International Notes: Durant, NBA Europe, Israel, Team USA U19
Kevin Durant – a current member of the Suns who could be traded to a new NBA team in a matter of days – has invested in Paris Saint-Germain via Qatar Sports Investments, as Adam Crafton and Joe Vardon of The Athletic detail.
Known primarily for its soccer teams, Paris Saint-Germain also has professional handball and judo teams under its umbrella. Despite the fact that there’s already a Paris-based club in the EuroLeague, PSG is looking into the possibility of establishing a basketball team of its own as part of the NBA’s foray into Europe.
According to The Athletic’s report, Durant will consult on Paris Saint-Germain’s potential plans to expand into basketball.
Here are a few more items of interest from around the international basketball world:
- Speaking of NBA Europe, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic checks in on where things stand with the project, noting that the relationship between the NBA and EuroLeague appears to have “thawed” to some extent as of late. That could bode well for some sort of professional partnership between the two entities. “It is becoming more obvious that we have to work together,” EuroLeague CEO Paulius Motiejunas told The Athletic after meeting recently with the NBA. “I believe it is the first meeting of many where we should find ways to grow basketball. FIBA’s wishes are clear and simple and easy to get to. So it is up to both leagues to find ways to grow European basketball. Our history and fan base and teams would be a strong backbone to build on.”
- Basketball activities in Israel have halted for the time being due to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, per Alessandro Maggi of Sportando. Israel’s domestic league, which was in the midst of its finals between Hapoel Tel Aviv and Hapoel Jerusalem, had its season cut short without declaring a champion. It’s also unclear if Israel will be able to send a team to Switzerland for the upcoming U19 FIBA World Cup later this month.
- USA Basketball has officially announced its roster for that U19 2025 World Cup, with A.J. Dybantsa – a contender to be the No. 1 overall pick in 2026 – and Tyran Stokes – ESPN’s top-ranked prospect in the 2026 recruiting class – among the group’s headliners. The tournament will take place in Lausanne, Switzerland from June 28 to July 6.
James Nnaji Leaving Europe, Joining Knicks For Summer League
Draft-and-stash center James Nnaji has informed Spanish club Barcelona that he is leaving Europe as he focuses on trying to sign his first NBA contract with the Knicks, confirms Jared Schwartz of The New York Post. Nnaji’s decision was first reported by Marc del Rio of Sport.es.
The Knicks acquired the rights to Nnaji, the 31st pick of the 2023 draft, in the blockbuster trade that sent Karl-Anthony Towns to New York. The Nigerian center has spent the past four seasons in Europe, playing a fairly limited role for Barça from 2021-24 before spending the 2024/25 campaign on loan with Merkezefendi (Turkey) and Girona (Spain).
Nnaji, who turns 21 years old in August, is already in New York and has been working out for the Knicks, his agent Gerard Raventos told The Post. Nnaji is hoping to impress during Summer League action next month with an eye on making the 2025/26 roster.
“Hopefully after [the Summer League], we can reach an agreement,” Raventos said. “That’s the plan, from both sides. It’s 50-50, it depends how he does. He’s coming in great shape. … Everything will be based on his performances in the Summer League.”
Nnaji has a highly impressive physical profile, Schwartz notes, measuring 7’0″ with a 7’7″ wingspan and weighing 251 lbs. a couple of years ago at the combine. He averaged 5.3 points and 4.1 rebounds in 14 appearances while on loan to Girona this season (16.2 minutes per contest).
With Precious Achiuwa possibly heading elsewhere in free agency, Nnaji could be an inexpensive addition to New York’s frontcourt. As Yossi Gozlan of Third Apron tweets, signing Nnaji to a minimum-salary contract would give the Knicks more financial wiggle room to use the taxpayer mid-level exception in ’25/26. He would also be eligible for a two-way deal.
And-Ones: Top Free Agents, Star Deals, Guards, Belinelli
Ahead of what could be a finite market for free agents this summer, Bobby Marks of ESPN explores the sort of contracts he expects 10 of this year’s most notable FAs to sign.
Only one team, Brooklyn, has space for a maximum-salary contract, although several clubs will have their full mid-level exceptions available to use. Still, top free agents could attempt to work out sign-and-trade deals to get them to a preferred destination for more than the mid-level.
Marks projects a two-year, $79MM contract for Clippers guard James Harden, a three-year, $113MM deal for Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving, and four years and $121MM for Timberwolves forward Julius Randle, among others.
There’s more from around the basketball world:
- John Hollinger of The Athletic ranks his top 25 free agents — including potential free agents who hold options, like Harden and Randle — heading into the 2025 offseason. Hollinger places Lakers forward LeBron James, even at age 40, as his No. 1 “realistic” free agent, ahead of Harden. The 21-time All-Star holds a $52.6MM option for 2025/26.
- In two additional pieces for The Athletic, Hollinger looks specifically at the best free agent point guard and shooting guard options on the market. Harden, Irving and Fred VanVleet are Hollinger’s preferred point guard options, while he thinks the best swingman players available are not quite at the top point guards’ level.
- After helping his Virtus Bologna club claim a title this week, former longtime NBA sharpshooter Marco Belinelli plans to retire from basketball, per Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops. Belinelli, 39, has been playing in his native Italy for the past five seasons, following a 13-year NBA career that included a run to the 2014 championship with San Antonio.
International Notes: Micic, Westbrook, Jokubaitis, Valanciunas, Theis
Hapoel Tel Aviv general manager George Hinas tells Vuk-Milos Petrovic of Basketball Sphere that his team remains in contention to sign Vasilije Micic, but he dismissed speculation about Russell Westbrook. While Micic is still under contract with the Suns, they’re expected to decline their $8.1MM team option for next season, making him a free agent by the end of the month. Several European clubs have expressed interest in adding the 31-year-old point guard, and Hinas rejected reports that Micic has ruled out Tel Aviv because of war concerns.
“He’s a great player, a EuroLeague legend, and one of the best ever,” Hinas said. “We spoke with him in late March and early April. We didn’t reach an agreement then, but we stayed in touch with him and his agent. What the Spanish media reported — that he rejected us because of the war — isn’t true. We continued talking. … Nothing is concrete yet. He’s one of the players we’re interested in, but so are other clubs. That’s how the offseason works — he talks to many clubs, and we talk to many players. His case is not closed. Not at all.”
Hinas called rumors about a potential deal with Westbrook “100% fake news.” Westbrook turned down his player option with the Nuggets for next season, but he’s expected to get another NBA opportunity.
“There were numbers mentioned — $50 million per year — which is crazy,” Hinas added. “I get that Hapoel Tel Aviv draws attention because we’re spending money. I counted 37 players who were linked with us. It’s good we’ll have three rosters, because when you have 37 players, it makes things easier (laughs). To be serious — it’s not true. There was no interest, and no one approached him.”
There’s more overseas news to pass along:
- Knicks draft-and-stash prospect Rokas Jokubaitis could be considering a departure from Hapoel Tel Aviv due to international tensions, Petrovic adds in a separate story. Fenerbahce is reportedly interested in the 24-year-old guard, who may seek an early termination to his current contract.
- Speaking at his annual camp in Lithuania, Jonas Valanciunas said he expects to remain with the Kings this season after being acquired from Washington in February, per Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops. “I can make my own plans, but what the Kings decide is what matters most,” he said. “Right now, I’m planning to stay. I haven’t heard anything about being traded or moved. Until there is such information, all my focus is on Sacramento.” Valanciunas also confirmed that he will participate in this summer’s EuroBasket tournament.
- Daniel Theis, who started the season with New Orleans before being traded and waived in February, will miss the rest of the French League Finals with Monaco due to knee issues, according to Alessandro Maggi of Sportando.
Top International Prospects Staying In 2025 Draft
Several of the top international prospects among this year’s early entrants have decided to keep their names in this year’s draft pool.
Noa Essengue, Joan Beringer, Hugo Gonzalez, Nolan Traore, Ben Saraf, Noah Penda, Hansen Yang, Alex Toohey, Bogoljub Markovic, Rocco Zikarsky, Izan Almansa, Saliou Niang, Mohamed Diawara, and Eli Ndiaye are all staying in the 2025 NBA draft, reports ESPN’s Jonathan Givony (via Twitter).
That player group represents 14 of the 15 international players who were ranked on ESPN’s top-100 prospect board coming into the day, with Essengue the highest-ranked prospect at No. 9, and Ndiaye the lowest at No. 97. The lone ranked prospect to withdraw from the draft today was Neoklis Avdalas, ranked No. 51.
While their withdrawals from the draft haven’t been officially confirmed, it sounds like Asim Djulovic, Lazar Gacic, Muodubem Muoneke, Ousmane N’Diaye, and Zaion Nebot also pulled out, since Givony refers to the above list as the “final tally” of international prospects in the draft.
[RELATED: 2025 NBA Draft Early Entrants List]
Dink Pate, who played for the Mexico City Capitanes in the G League this past season, is also keeping his name in the draft pool, Givony notes. Pate is the No. 56 prospect on ESPN’s board.
With a bigger-than-usual amount of lower-ranked NCAA prospects returning to school thanks to NIL deals, the international class has a chance to gain ground with strong pre-draft showings. Essengue, in particular, has seen his draft stock rise following a strong playoff run for Ratiopharm Ulm.
Mouhamed Faye, Ben Henshall To Pull Out Of NBA Draft
Potential second-round pick Mouhamed Faye will take his name out of this year’s draft, agent Matteo Comellini tells Jonathan Givony of ESPN (Twitter link).
Faye, 20, will consider options in both the EuroLeauge and the NCAA for next season, according to Givony. The 6’10” Senegalese center played this year with Reggie Emilio in Italy, where he averaged 10.1 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game. He ranks 54th on ESPN’s big board.
Faye left Senegal at age 16 to join Reggiana’s youth team for the 2022/23 season. He was promoted to the senior team a year later and was honored as the best player under 22 in Lega Basket Serie A. He also registered for the 2024 draft, but withdrew in mid-June.
Australian guard Ben Henshall is also exiting the draft, agent Sam Rose tells Givony (Twitter link). Henshall, 20, also plans to consider NCAA and professional opportunities for next season. He spent this year with the Perth Wildcats in the NBL, averaging 9.4 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists. Henshall ranks 64th on ESPN’s list of the best prospects.
International players have until June 15 to pull their names out of this year’s draft. The NCAA set a May 28 deadline for college players to withdraw and keep their eligibility.
Igor Kokoskov To Be Named Head Coach Of Anadolu Efes
Former NBA head coach Igor Kokoskov, who has been an assistant on Quin Snyder‘s staff with the Hawks the past two seasons, will be returning to Europe to be the new coach of Turkish club Anadolu Efes, according to Aris Barkas of Eurohoops.
Basketball Sphere first reported that Efes was interested in hiring Kokoskov, with Meridian Sport later reporting that a deal between the two sides was being finalized.
A native of Serbia, Kokoskov was the first person born and raised outside of North America to become an NBA head coach, having spent one season (2018/19) at the helm in Phoenix. He was also the first non-American coach on a championship team, Barkas notes, earning the distinction as an assistant with Detroit in 2004.
In addition to his long career as an NBA assistant, the 53-year-old also been the head coach of the national teams of Georgia, Serbia and Slovenia, helping the latter claim a EuroBasket gold in 2017.
Since 2000, Kokoskov has been an assistant with the Clippers, Pistons, Suns, Cavaliers, Jazz, Kings, Mavericks, Nets and Hawks.
Koskokov will replace Luca Bianchi as head coach of Anadolu Efes, which competes in both the EuroLeague and Turkey’s Basketball Super League (BSL).
International Notes: Cousins, Grant, Days, Wright-Foreman
Former NBA star DeMarcus Cousins offered a brief apology on Instagram for his role in a brawl with fans in Puerto Rico on Monday, as Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com relays (via Twitter).
“I want to apologize to the fans of Puerto Rico for my actions,” Cousins wrote. “I have so much love and respect for the island (blue heart emoji).”
Cousins, 34, was suspended for the remainder of the season and had his contract terminated by Mets de Guaynabo as a result of the incident (YouTube link). He was also fined. The four-time All-Star’s last NBA stop came with Denver during the 2021/22 season.
Here are a few more international notes:
- Veteran guard Jerian Grant, who played parts of five NBA seasons from 2015-20, has officially signed a contract extension that will keep him with Greek powerhouse Panathinaikos through the 2027/28 season (story via BasketNews.com). The 32-year-old averaged 8.7 points and 3.3 assists on .505/.414/.862 shooting in 34 EuroLeague games this past season (26.4 MPG).
- Fresh off an NBL championship with the Illawara Hawks, ex-Rocket Darius Days will be heading to Japan for the ’25/26 campaign, having reached an agreement with San-En NeoPhoenix of the B.League, sources tell Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews. The 25-year-old forward spent the ’22/23 season on a two-way deal with Houston.
- Former Hofstra point guard Justin Wright-Foreman, who spent several months on a two-way deal with Utah after being selected 53rd overall in 2019, has officially signed a one-year deal with Greece’s Iraklis BC, the team announced in a press release. Wright-Foreman, who has suited up for Team USA on multiple occasions during AmeriCup Qualifiers, most recently played in Qatar.
And-Ones: Expansion, Greenwood, Anigbata, 2020 Draft
While NBA commissioner Adam Silver believes the league will “likely” expand beyond its current 30 teams sooner or later, he said during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show this week that it’s not obvious to him that it absolutely needs to happen in the short term (Twitter video link).
“The reason I say it’s not obvious is because as a global business where something like two billion people will connect with us on social media, over a billion people over the course of the year will watch some portion of the game, adding another U.S. city, it’s unclear how much growth we’ll get as a result of that,” Silver explained, noting that expanding from 30 teams to 32 would dilute the NBA’s talent pool and result in two new partners splitting up the league’s revenue.
“… Having said that,” Silver continued, “I do believe certain markets can potentially be additive to the NBA, and that’s what we’re going to look at. I think part of it is geographic. It’s a big country. Making sure we’re represented all around the country, and then over time, maybe there’s more we can do in Canada, and Mexico City is a city we’ve talked about before.”
Silver went on to say that the NBA hasn’t met with any groups from specific cities yet, but confirmed that expansion will be a real topic of discussion at the league’s Board of Governors meetings in July.
“I don’t mean to tease people with this,” Silver said. “This is the summer we’re going to look at it seriously.”
We have more from around the basketball world:
- David Greenwood, a former UCLA star who was the No. 2 overall pick in the 1979 draft behind Magic Johnson, has passed away at age 68 after battling cancer, according to Beth Harris of The Associated Press. Greenwood appeared in over 800 regular season games across 12 NBA seasons with the Bulls, Spurs, Pistons, and Nuggets, earning a spot on the All-Rookie first team in 1980 and winning a title with Detroit in 1990. He held career averages of 10.2 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in 28.4 minutes per game.
- Ahead of Sunday’s draft withdrawal deadline for early entrants, German forward Alec Anigbata has removed his name from consideration, reports Jon Chepkevich of DraftExpress (Twitter link). The 20-year-old has played a minor role for Ratiopharm Ulm in Germany this season and will become automatically draft-eligible in 2026, Chepkevich notes.
- If the 2020 NBA draft were held again knowing what we know now, Anthony Edwards would still be the No. 1 pick, but a pair of Tyreses – Tyrese Haliburton and Tyrese Maxey – would move into the top three after initially being drafted at No. 12 and No. 21, respectively, according to HoopsHype. In HoopsHype’s 2020 re-draft, a series of late first-rounders move into the top 10, with Desmond Bane jumping from No. 30 to No. 5 while Jaden McDaniels (No. 28 to No. 6), Immanuel Quickley (No. 25 to No. 9), and Payton Pritchard (No. 26 to No. 10) also make big leaps.
Malachi Flynn Joining Turkish Team
Free agent guard Malachi Flynn, a former NBA first-round pick, has reached an agreement to join Bahçeşehir Koleji, the Turkish team announced today in a press release (hat tip to Sportando).
The No. 29 overall pick in 2020, Flynn spent his first three-and-a-half NBA seasons with the Raptors, appearing in 175 regular season games and averaging 5.4 points and 2.0 assists in 15.0 minutes per night, with a shooting line of .379/.338/.756.
The former Washington State standout was traded from Toronto to New York alongside OG Anunoby and Precious Achiuwa in December 2023, then was flipped to Detroit several weeks later in the deal that sent Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks to the Knicks. His most memorable NBA outing came near the end of the 2023/24 season with the Pistons, when he went off for 50 points in an April game against the Hawks.
Despite that display of his scoring ability, Flynn had a hard time finding work at the NBA level during the 2024/25 season and spent much of the year with the Austin Spurs in the G League. He put up 22.6 PPG on .475/.391/.847 shooting in 36 games with San Antonio’s NBAGL affiliate, earning a 10-day contract with the Hornets in March. That was the 27-year-old’s most recent stint on an NBA roster.
Bahçeşehir Koleji, Flynn’s new team, doesn’t compete in the EuroLeague or EuroCup, but is coming off a strong year in Turkey’s Basketball Super League. The club went 18-12 in the regular season and made the semifinals in the playoffs before being eliminated by Fenerbahçe.