Djurisic Returning To Serbia After Being Waived By Hawks
Nikola Djurisic, who was waived by the Hawks last week, is on the verge of signing with Serbia’s Crvena Zvezda, Eurohoops.net relays via a Meridian Sport report.
Djurisic mulled offers in Europe after Atlanta chose to convert Caleb Houstan‘s two-way deal into a standard contract.
The 43rd overall pick in the 2024 draft, Djurisic spent his first season in the G League with the College Park Skyhawks, then signed a three-year standard contract last summer. However, only the first year was guaranteed.
Djurisic never played for Atlanta. He suited up for 21 games with the Skyhawks this season, averaging 9.1 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game while shooting 42.7% overall but just 19.0% on his three-point attempts.
Now, the 22-year-old is returning to his homeland to play in the ABA League and the EuroLeague.
And-Ones: Saric, Beverley, Cap Room, Peterson
After being waived by the Pistons following this month’s trade deadline, veteran forward/center Dario Saric has joined the Croatian national team for the winter qualifying window for the 2027 FIBA World Cup, according to a Eurohoops report.
Saric has played in the NBA since leaving Anadolu Efes in Turkey in 2016, but he saw his playing time decline sharply in recent years. The 31-year-old appeared in just five games for Sacramento this season after playing only 16 times for Denver in 2024/25. Based on his role reduction in the NBA, he’s expecting to find his next team in Europe.
“Right now, my focus is on the EuroLeague,” he said. “Finding a team and a system that suits me and allows me to adjust after the NBA.”
Saric reportedly drew interest from Hapoel Tel Aviv before the Israeli team signed veteran NBA forward Kessler Edwards.
We have more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Longtime NBA guard Patrick Beverley, who is currently under contract with PAOK BC in Greece, won’t face charges after being arrested in Texas in November following a domestic incident, per Scooby Axson and Jim Reineking of USA Today. Beverley was accused of assaulting his teenage sister, but a grand jury returned a no-bill, having decided there wasn’t enough evidence for the matter to go to trial. “(Beverley) is glad that the process was allowed to work as it did and his hope is that with these charges behind him now, his name and reputation will be restored,” his attorneys said in a statement.
- Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report breaks down each NBA team’s cap situation heading into 2026/27, considering which clubs will have the financial flexibility to go shopping in free agency and which ones will be the most limited in their ability to spend.
- Various health problems, including hamstring and ankle issues, have resulted in inconsistent availability and a decline in effectiveness for Kansas star Darryn Peterson, according to one NBA scout who believes the potential No. 1 overall pick would be better off shutting it down for the season and prioritizing his long-term future. “He doesn’t have the same burst he had playing in high school,” that scout told Grant Afseth of RG.org. “You can see he’s trying to battle through it, and I respect that. But at some point, you’ve got to ask what you’re gaining versus what you’re risking. He’s clearly not 100%. It would be wise to shut it down and not risk anything. The constant speculation is only a negative at this point.”
- A group of ESPN insiders considers what’s next for a team of 10 lottery-bound teams, exploring how their trade deadline moves might have impacted their draft plans and their offseason outlooks.
And-Ones: Durant, Olympics, U.S. Roster, Parker, Brooks
Four-time gold medalist Kevin Durant tells Vincent Goodwill of ESPN he wants to represent Team USA again at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. The 37-year-old Rockets forward, who is the U.S men’s team’s all-time leading scorer in Olympic competition, did add a caveat, however.
“Hell yeah, I want to play,” Durant said. “I would love to, but I’ve got to stay on top of my game. I’m not expecting, I want to produce on the floor and make (managing director) Grant (Hill) and whoever is making the decisions, want to put me on the team. I don’t want — not just for seniority. I want to still prove I can help the team win.
“Today, yeah I feel like I’ll put my name in that hat.”
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Speaking of the 2028 Olympics and USA Basketball, Zach Kram of ESPN takes an early look at potential candidates for the Americans’ roster. Kram predicts that Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, Jalen Duren, Amen Thompson, Scottie Barnes, Cade Cunningham, Anthony Edwards, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Tyrese Haliburton, Bam Adebayo and Jayson Tatum will be the 12 players selected (they’re listed by age). Durant could take the final wing spot on the roster, according to Kram, but only if he’s still “engaged and deserving” two-plus years from now.
- Partizan Belgrade is expected to loan former No. 2 overall pick Jabari Parker to Spanish club Joventut Badalona for the rest of the season, according to a report from Mozzart Sport (hat tip to Sportando). Parker been away from the Serbian club for several weeks, last playing on January 9. The veteran power forward is still under contract with Partizan through 2026/27, though his future with the team is uncertain.
- Shooting guard Armoni Brooks, who played parts of three NBA seasons from 2020-24, has been named MVP of the Italian Cup after helping lead Olimpia Milano to a title in the domestic tournament, per Fabio Cavagnera of RealOlimpiaMilano.com (hat tip to Sportando). The 27-year-old said he “100%” wants to re-sign with the Italian squad.
And-Ones: MVP Race, No. 1 Pick, Peterson, P. Gasol
Reigning Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander remains the favorite to claim the award again in 2025/26, according to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, who recently conducted his second MVP straw poll. The Thunder guard was the only player to appear on all 100 ballots and accumulated 930 points.
Injuries to top players have significantly impacted the MVP race this season, Bontemps writes, as multiple contenders for the award may not qualify due to the 65-game rule. Despite being sidelined with an abdominal strain, Gilgeous-Alexander isn’t in imminent danger of not meeting that threshold — he’ll likely have 10 total missed games when he’s reevaluated later this week.
Nuggets center Nikola Jokic remains in second place (700 points), but the gap between the two players has grown since Bontemps’ initial poll in December. That’s largely because the three-time MVP missed 15 games because of a knee injury and can’t have more than two additional absences without becoming ineligible for major postseason awards.
Pistons guard Cade Cunningham (382 points) and Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama (242 points) were the only other players to receive first-place votes. Lakers guard Luka Doncic (177 points) rounds out the top five of Bontemps’ poll.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- How much would the No. 1 overall pick in the loaded 2026 NBA draft be worth if it were available in an auction? Brian Windhorst of ESPN briefly discussed that topic on the Hoop Collective podcast (hat tip to RealGM). “I was talking to a league executive today and he said to me, this is after Darryn Peterson had 23 points in 18 minutes and after we’ve seen some other top guys have big time games over the last four or five days,” Windhorst said. “… I had an executive tell me that the No. 1 pick this year is worth $100 million. If you gave the opportunity to buy that pick, teams would pay $100 million for it. Keep that in mind when the Jazz were fined $500,000.”
- Although Peterson’s sporadic for Kansas this season has undoubtedly been frustrating for him, the school, and its fans, his health issues are unlikely to have much of an effect on the 19-year-old guard’s standing as a top prospect in the 2026 draft class, per Brendan Marks and Justin Williams of The Athletic. “He’s elite, elite, elite,” one NBA scout told The Athletic. “When he’s fully healthy, the shot-making is on another level. … When it comes down to it, man, if you’ve seen this guy play in high school, and you saw those matchups, like, Darryn is the guy. For sure.”
- Hall of Famer Pau Gasol has been selected by Olympic athletes to represent them on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) board through the 2028 summer games in Los Angeles, according to The Associated Press.
Bol Bol, Kylor Kelley To Play In Philippines
Former NBA big men Bol Bol and Kylor Kelley, who were both in the league last season, are headed overseas to compete in the upcoming Commissioner’s Cup in the Philippine Basketball Association, Marc Stein of The Stein Line confirms (via Twitter).
Bol will play for the TNT Tropang 5G, the defending Commissioner’s Cup champions, as the team announced on social media (Facebook link).
The 44th overall pick in the 2019 draft, Bol made 202 regular season appearances for Denver, Orlando, and Phoenix in six NBA seasons, averaging 6.2 points and 3.5 rebounds in 13.6 minutes per night. He appeared in 36 games last season for the Suns, making 10 starts and logging 12.4 minutes per contest.
The 7’3″ forward/center has a unique skill set for a player of his size, including an ability to handle the ball and make outside shots. However, his slender frame and lack of defensive mobility limit his effectiveness on that end of the floor and have made it a challenge for him to establish himself as a trusted NBA rotation player.
As for Kelley, the former Oregon State center is joining the Converge FiberXers, another PBA team, writes Justine Bacnis of the Tiebreaker Times.
Kelley went undrafted in 2020 and bounced around for the next several years, playing in the G League, Denmark, England, and non-NBA leagues in Canada and the U.S. He spent part of 2024/25 on a two-way deal with the Mavericks and also signed a pair of 10-day contracts with the Pelicans at the end of the season, appearing in 11 total games for the two teams.
Kelley had been playing for the South Bay Lakers in the G League this season, but freed himself up via buyout to head to the Philippines, according to the team (Twitter link).
The Commissioner’s Cup represents a segment of the PBA season that will tip off next month.
Kessler Edwards Signs With Hapoel Tel Aviv
February 19: Edwards has signed with Hapoel Tel Aviv for the rest of the season, the team announced today (via Twitter).
February 18: Free agent forward Kessler Edwards is nearing an agreement with the Israeli team Hapoel Tel Aviv, confirms Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews. The outlet ONE first reported that the two sides were progressing toward a deal.
Edwards, who made his NBA debut in 2021 after being drafted 44th overall out of Pepperdine, has appeared in a total of 178 regular season games for the Nets, Kings, and Mavericks. He became a regular contributor for an injury-plagued Dallas team last season, averaging 4.2 points and 2.9 rebounds in 15.2 minutes per game across 40 outings (18 starts), with a shooting line of .496/.407/.923.
However, Edwards – no longer eligible for a two-way deal – was unable to secure an NBA contract this season and has spent the year with the Grand Rapids Gold in the G League. In 30 contests for Denver’s NBAGL affiliate, the 25-year-old has averaged 14.1 PPG and 8.1 RPG in 33.6 MPG while shooting .502/.403/.781.
Hapoel Tel Aviv has been in the market for help at forward ahead of the EuroLeague’s player registration deadline. The team was linked to Nigel Hayes-Davis before he agreed to a deal with Panathinaikos and also had an eye on Dario Saric, per Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops. Both players were recently waived by NBA teams.
Hapoel Tel Aviv has a 16-11 record in EuroLeague play this season and is battling to hang onto its playoff spot. The team is currently sixth in the EuroLeague standings, but four clubs are just a half-game back at 16-12. In domestic league play, Hapoel Tel Aviv is 15-2 and is battling Maccabi Tel Aviv (15-1) for the Israeli League’s top seed.
And-Ones: Tanking Reform, Power Rankings, Hayes-Davis, Gasol
The subject of tanking has become a hot-button topic in recent weeks, prompting NBA commissioner Adam Silver to address it over All-Star weekend. ESPN’s Bobby Marks spoke on NBA Today on Monday about the commissioner’s response, including his comments about potentially stripping picks from teams.
“Change is coming here when we’re looking at this lottery system, and basically not incentivizing teams to lose to gain advantage in the draft,” Marks said (YouTube video link).
There have been different ideas thrown out as potential remedies for the current system. Marc Stein, in his latest Substack article, suggests a new approach, wherein teams could only secure the highest odds for landing the top pick once they clear 27 wins.
Stein uses 27 wins as the cut-off because that would mean winning at least a third of the season’s games, and would discourage teams from bottoming out completely. Some semblance of competitiveness would be required to hit that mark and qualify for a top pick. Teams that didn’t reach 27 wins would have lower odds of landing a top-four pick in this scenario.
Whatever the choice is, Stein writes that it’s important that the league doesn’t overreact to a particularly egregious single-year tank battle due to what is considered a generational draft.
We have more from around the world of basketball:
- Law Murray of The Athletic released his post-All-Star Break power rankings today, which he broke into five categories: top contenders, in a good place, the bubble, not the tier to fear, and basement floor. His top contenders category includes five teams, led by the Pistons, followed by the Spurs, Thunder, Knicks, and Celtics, while his second tier is a three-team race between the Cavaliers, Nuggets, and Rockets. On the other side of the spectrum, he has five “basement floor” teams, with the two lowest being the Wizards at 29 and the Kings, whom he calls “a true factory of sadness,” at 30.
- It was recently reported that Nigel Hayes-Davis would be leaving the NBA to return to Europe, signing a deal with Panathinaikos that will extend through 2028. He explained the decision to choose the Greek team instead of joining one of his former squad, Fenerbahce Beko. “Everyone knows Fenerbahce was an option and what I did there over the last few years, especially what we accomplished as a team last season. It just felt like that chapter was closed and that I had given my all,” he said, per Kevin Martorano of Sportando. Hayes-Davis was the EuroLeague Final Four MVP a year ago as Fenerbahce won the 2025 title.
- Former NBA star Pau Gasol confirmed his involvement in NBA Europe, though what exactly he will be doing has yet to be fully clarified, Martorano writes for Sportando. “At the moment, there is no defined role. I’m simply working with the NBA, with FIBA, and speaking with teams to see what the evolution of basketball’s growth in Europe should look like,” the two-time NBA champion said. “From there, we’ll see what role I will ultimately take on, whether at the league level or with a team.” He also outlined his vision for what the project would be able to accomplish: “We need to build everything from scratch. Basketball is a globally important sport, and I believe we have the space to enhance it both as an experience and as a show, going beyond the simple magic of the game itself. That is exactly what we are here to do.”
And-Ones: Bonga, Tanking, Giannis
KK Partizan recently received lucrative buyout offers for Isaac Bonga from four unnamed NBA teams, according to Pedrag Saric of Meridian Sport (hat tip to Eurohoops). However, the Serbian club rejected those offers for the German forward, who played in the NBA from 2018-22, because Partizan didn’t want to lose its most consistent player.
Bonga is still just 26 years old and could receive NBA interest again this summer, assuming he stays with the Belgrade-based team for the remainder of the 2025/26 season. In 41 total games (26.3 minutes per contest) this season, Bonga has averaged 10.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.0 steal on .505/.312/.830 shooting.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Tanking has come under increased scrutiny this season, in part because of the perceived strength of the 2026 draft class. “This draft has a chance to be legendary,” one NBA executive told Forbes contributor Adam Zagoria. How can the league combat teams trying to intentionally lose to boost their lottery odds? Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports lays out his idea to address the tanking issue.
- Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s investment in prediction market company Kalshi isn’t a great look for the NBA, says Dan Wetzel of ESPN.com. As Wetzel writes, Antetokounmpo’s minority stake in Kalshi technically doesn’t break any league rules, but it’s easy to see how it could cause fans to lose confidence in the integrity of the sport — one popular category a couple weeks ago was whether or not the Bucks‘ star forward would be traded.
- Speaking to the media on Saturday, Antetokounmpo said he would the welcome opportunity to be an owner in the NBA’s proposed European league, per Javier Molero of Eurohoops. “Being an owner? 100%,” the two-time MVP said. “If there’s an opportunity that comes across my desk to be an owner in sports, anything, I would consider it 100%. In the real NBA, I don’t know if I have that type of money. If I ever come into a position where I’m able to make that decision and it won’t affect my lifestyle, my family’s lifestyle, and it won’t be too risky for my wealth and network, I will consider doing it.”
Kai Jones Signs Two-Year Extension With Anadolu Efes
Former NBA big man Kai Jones has signed a two-year extension with Anadolu Efes, the Turkish club announced in a press release (Twitter link).
The 19th overall pick in the 2021 draft, Jones technically holds four years of NBA experience even though he didn’t appear in a game in 2023/24 — he signed a 10-day contract with Philadelphia near the end of that campaign.
Jones played 40 games for the Clippers and Mavericks in 2024/25, averaging 5.0 points and 3.1 rebounds while shooting 79.8% from the field in 11.7 minutes per contest.
The 25-year-old began last season on a two-way contract with the Clippers, then was waived on March 1. He caught on immediately with the injury-plagued Mavericks, who were desperately seeking frontcourt depth as they pushed for a play-in spot.
Jones spent four days working out for the Heat last August, but nothing came of his audition. He was reportedly close to signing with Italy’s Virtus Bologna before those workouts, but ended up joining Anadolu Efes the following month.
Jones has appeared in 26 EuroLeague games with Efes, averaging 3.8 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 14.2 minutes per contest. He rarely shoots (1.8 attempts per game), but has converted 45 of his 47 field goals (95.9%) thus far in 2025/26.
Anadolu Efes, which also competes in Turkey’s top domestic league, has struggled in EuroLeague action, compiling a 9-19 record.
And-Ones: Hall Of Fame Finalists, Kelly, Expansion, Investigations
The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame announced this week the selection of finalists for its Class of 2026, according to a league press release. The finalists will be put forward to the Honors Committee to be considered for election and the new class will be announced on Saturday, April 4 during Final Four weekend.
The North American Committee Finalists include referee Joey Crawford; coaches Mark Few, Gary McKnight, Dick Motta, Doc Rivers, Kelvin Sampson and Jerry Welsh; and players Blake Griffin, Kevin Johnson, Amar’e Stoudemire and Buck Williams.
The Women’s Committee Finalists include the 1996 United States Women’s National Team and players Jennifer Azzi, Elena Delle Donne, Chamique Holdsclaw and Candace Parker.
Molly Bolin-Kazmer is the lone finalist from the Women’s Veterans Committee. Dušan Ivković (coach) is the lone International Committee finalist while Marques Johnson is the only Veterans Committee finalist. The Contributors Committee chose Tal Brody and Mike D’Antoni as its finalists.
Here’s more from around the basketball world:
- David Kelly has been unanimously elected as the next NBA Players Association executive director by the Board of Player Representatives, Ian Begley of SNY relays (Twitter link). He’ll replace longtime NBA player Andre Iguodala, whose term expires in July. Kelly has been serving as the managing director and general counsel for the NBPA. He’s also served as a close advisor to Iguodala.
- The Board of Governors might vote on expansion this summer, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania (video link) and Dallas Morning News’ Brad Townsend (Twitter link). The BOG’s spring meeting is expected to be critical for stakeholders to better understand the factors around expansion, according to Charania. Some BOG members wanted to vote on expansion in the spring, but it will be tabled until the summer for extra information-gathering and deliberation, according to Townsend. Seattle and Las Vegas have long been considered the top candidates for expansion.
- The Athletic’s Mike Vornukov and Joe Vardon provide an in-depth look at how the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz conducts investigations into various NBA matters. The league has used the firm’s services since 2007.
- All-Star weekend continues today with the three-point contest, the Shooting Stars event and the slam dunk competition and The Athletic’s Steven Louis Goldstein offers a guide to Saturday’s activities. Prior three-point contest winners Damian Lillard and Devin Booker are among the eight participants in that event. The Shooting Stars is making its first appearance since 2015, replacing the Skills Challenge.