International Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Marjanovic, Vucevic, Rebuilding Teams, Cauley-Stein

August 31st, 2024 at 11:53am CST by Dana Gauruder

Boban Marjanovic turned 36 this month. The affable big man told Marc Stein in his latest Substack post that he’d like to still be playing at 40 years old, as LeBron James is doing.

“I want to stay in [the] NBA; this is the main goal,” he said. “I want my kids to be there and I want myself to be there.”

Marjanovic remains on the free agent market and continues to search for a new opportunity. He was on the Rockets’ roster last season.

We have more from around the international basketball world:

Bulls center Nikola Vucevic hasn’t ruled out the idea of finishing his career in Europe, but doesn’t plan to play overseas anytime soon, BasketNews.com relays. “I would love to play in the NBA for as long as possible. It’s the best league, with the best players and conditions,” Vucevic told Iva Jevtic of B92. “At this moment, I’m not thinking about a return to Europe. If it ever happens, Crvena Zvezda would be the main favorite, but many things would have to fall into place.” Crvena Zvezda is based in Belgrade, Serbia.
A number of NBA teams are in rebuilding mode and Grant Hughes of Bleacher Report ranks how each of them are faring. He sees the Spurs being ahead of the pack and not just because they have generational talent Victor Wembanyama. The Pistons come in at the No. 2 spot due to the amount of young talent on their roster, headed by Cade Cunningham.
In a comprehensive feature story, Kyle Tucker of The Athletic details the difficulties that Willie Cauley-Stein has endured in recent years. Cauley-Stein, who hasn’t appeared in an NBA game since the 2021/22, remains hopeful of getting another NBA contract.

Evan Fournier Reportedly Considering EuroLeague Offers

August 30th, 2024 at 10:52am CST by Luke Adams

Since having his 2024/25 team option turned down by the Pistons and becoming an unrestricted free agent, Evan Fournier has been seeking out potential NBA opportunities. But with no deal having materialized stateside approximately two months later, the French swingman is “seriously considering” the possibility of returning to Europe, reports Michalis Stefanou of Eurohoops.

According to Stefanou, EuroLeague teams based in Spain, Italy, and France have either made a contract offer to Fournier or expressed interest in signing him.

As Stefanou points out, Fournier tweeted back in 2022 that if he were ever to return to the EuroLeague, his top choice would be Olympiacos, but it’s unclear whether the Greek club is among those teams with interest in the veteran wing.

Before being selected with the 20th overall pick in the 2012 draft by the Nuggets, Fournier spent time with JSF Nanterre and Poitiers Basket 86 in France, so the 31-year-old is no stranger to playing overseas. However, he has been in the NBA for the past 12 seasons, appearing in more than 700 total regular season games for Denver, Orlando, Boston, New York, and Detroit.

Fournier was a reliable starter and scorer for several years in his prime, averaging over 15 points per game for six consecutive seasons from 2015-21 and setting a Knicks team record for most three-pointers in a single season in 2021/22 with 241 (Donte DiVincenzo broke that record this past season).

However, he fell out of Tom Thibodeau‘s rotation in New York during the ’22/23 season, and after eventually getting the change of scenery he sought, he struggled to make an impact in Detroit during the second half of the ’23/24 campaign, averaging just 7.2 points in 18.7 minutes per game across 29 outings, with a .373/.270/.794 shooting line.

Marc Stein reported during the second week of July that the Wizards may have interest in Fournier as a potential veteran mentor to young Frenchmen Alex Sarr and Bilal Coulibaly. Nothing came of that though, and there haven’t been any reports since then linking Fournier to any specific NBA teams.

He probably didn’t help his stock much by posting modest numbers (9.8 PPG on 34.0% shooting, including 32.4% on three-pointers) during France’s silver medal run at the Paris Olympics.

Omer Yurtseven Signs With Panathinaikos

August 30th, 2024 at 9:08am CST by Luke Adams

Free agent center Omer Yurtseven has signed a contract with Panathinaikos, the Greek club announced today in a press release. The two sides worked out an agreement after Panathinaikos’ interest in Yurtseven was reported several weeks ago, finalizing a two-year deal that includes a second-year option.

Yurtseven, 26, spent the past three seasons in the NBA, appearing in a total of 113 games for the Heat and Jazz during that time and posting averages of 5.0 points and 4.6 rebounds in 11.8 minutes per contest.

The seven-footer showed promise as a rookie in 2021/22, earning backup center minutes for the Heat for a significant chunk of the season, but was limited to just nine appearances the following year due to an ankle injury. He inked a multiyear contract with the Jazz during the 2023 offseason, but it wasn’t guaranteed for 2024/25, so Utah cut him loose at the start of free agency.

Yurtseven’s deal with Panathinaikos will reunite him with head coach Ergin Ataman, who also coaches the Turkish national team. In a statement passed along by the team, the big man cited Ataman’s presence as a “very important” factor in his decision to join the Greek club.

Panathinaikos is coming off a dominant season in which it went 26-1 in Greek League play and defeated Olympiacos to win the championship. The team also had a 23-11 regular season record in EuroLeague competition and knocked off Maccabi Tel Aviv, Fenerbahce, and Real Madrid in the postseason to win its seventh EuroLeague title.

Bruno Caboclo Signs With Hapoel Tel Aviv

August 30th, 2024 at 7:46am CST by Luke Adams

Former NBA first-round pick Bruno Caboclo has signed with Hapoel Tel Aviv, the Israeli club formally announced today (via Twitter). According to a Sport5 report relayed by Sportando, the contract covers two seasons. Previous reporting indicated the second year would be a team option.

Caboclo was said to be working out with the Warriors this week in the hopes of landing an NBA contract. While it’s possible Caboclo’s deal includes an NBA opt-out clause in the event that he receives an offer from Golden State or another team, the fact that he’s officially moving forward with Tel Aviv suggests that no NBA opportunity he likes has materialized.

The 20th overall pick in the 2014 draft, Caboclo spent parts of seven seasons in the NBA, but appeared in just 105 total games for the Raptors, Kings, Grizzlies, and Rockets from 2014-21. He averaged 4.2 points and 2.6 rebounds in 12.3 minutes per contest.

Caboclo has been more effective on the international stage, winning a German League (BBL) title in 2023 with Ratiopharm Ulm and earning All-EuroCup Second Team honors that season before spending the 2023/24 campaign with Partizan Belgrade in the EuroLeague. He also represented Brazil in this year’s Olympics, leading the national team with 17.3 points and 7.0 rebounds in 22.1 minutes per game across four outings.

Hapoel Tel Aviv, which is aiming to earn a promotion to the EuroLeague by winning a EuroCup title in 2024/25, also added NBA veterans Patrick Beverley and Ish Wainright earlier this summer.

And-Ones: Anthony, Toupane, 2024 Offseason Moves

August 29th, 2024 at 1:32pm CST by Rory Maher

Former NBA star Carmelo Anthony would like to become part of a team’s ownership group, he said on his 7PM in Brooklyn podcast (YouTube link). However, he’s not quite sure how to go about becoming a minority stakeholder.

“I’m out there trying to raise money now, trying to raise money with my sports fund … it’s hard to raise money,” said Anthony, who earned $250MM+ in NBA contracts over his career. “… It’s hard to raise money. … And getting people to understand what sports is. It’s so much money being spent into sports, and people really don’t understand it. People really don’t understand sports.

“(The NBA) is a small piece of sports globally. A small piece in the grand scheme of things. This is one market. … That’s North America, they control basketball, but it’s like, they going global with it.”

Here’s more from around the basketball world:

French guard/forward Axel Toupane, who won a championship with Milwaukee in 2021, is signing with the Diablo Rojos for the Mexican LNBP season, a source tells Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Toupane appeared in 33 regular season games with three different teams over the course of his three NBA seasons. The 32-year-old has had a long international career, playing for teams in France, Lithuania, Greece and Spain since 2011. He played for Metropolitans 92 last season in France’s top basketball league (LNB Elite).
Dan Favale of Bleacher Report lists the biggest 2024 offseason win and loss for each of the NBA’s 30 teams. For the defending champion Celtics, Favale views Derrick White signing a long-term extension as their biggest win, while their biggest loss was losing top assistant coach Charles Lee, who is now head coach of the Hornets. At the other end last season’s standings, Favale liked the contract the Pistons handed out to Simone Fontecchio (two years, $16MM), but was not a fan of the trade that shipped Quentin Grimes to Dallas for Tim Hardaway Jr. and three second-round picks.
In case you missed it, Real Madrid and Guerschon Yabusele have reached an official agreement to end his contract, clearing the way for the French forward to finalize his reported deal with the Sixers.

Real Madrid, Guerschon Yabusele Officially Part Ways

August 29th, 2024 at 7:57am CST by Luke Adams

Real Madrid and forward/center Guerschon Yabusele have reached an agreement to end his contract with the Spanish club, the team officially announced today in a press release. The move helps clear the way for Yabusele to finalize his reported deal with the Sixers.

Yabusele’s contract with Real Madrid included an NBA-opt out clause with a buyout reportedly worth $2.5MM. NBA rules allow the 76ers to contribute up to $850K of that amount without it counting toward their cap, but that left $1.65MM still to cover.

A team with more cap flexibility could’ve accommodated that remaining amount within Yabusele’s cap hit (e.g. paying him a $3MM salary and taking on a $4.65MM cap charge). However, because Yabusele is signing a veteran’s minimum contract with Philadelphia, his salary will be just $2,087,519, so taking the $1.65MM from that amount would essentially wipe out his NBA earnings for 2024/25.

Yabusele and Madrid were said to be negotiating the terms of his buyout. No details have been reported yet, so it’s unclear if the Spanish team may have agreed to reduce the $2.5MM total or worked out some sort of payment plan. Either way, the situation has been resolved, putting Yabusele on track to officially sign with Philadelphia once he receives FIBA clearance.

Yabusele didn’t emerge as a regular rotation player during his previous NBA stint from 2017-19 in Boston, but has thrived overseas in recent years, winning a EuroLeague title (2023) and two Spanish League (Liga ACB) titles (2022, 2024) with Real Madrid after claiming a French League (LNB Pro A) championship with ASVEL in 2021. He was also one of the key contributors to the French national team that won a silver medal at the Paris Olympics this summer.

International Notes: Yurtseven, Lessort, Sochan, Beverley, Cousins

August 27th, 2024 at 12:54pm CST by Luke Adams

Sani Becirovic, the technical director Panathinaikos, confirmed this week that the Greek club has interest in free agent big man Omer Yurtseven, who has spent the past three seasons in the NBA. Panathinaikos’ interest in Yurtseven was reported earlier this month.

“The truth has been written,” Becirovic said, per Alessandro Maggi of Sportando. “We have nothing to hide: he is one of the players we are interested in. There have been contacts, we have studied the case to see if he is a realistic option or not. But there is still some work to be done to reach an agreement.”

If Panathinaikos is able to finalize a deal with Yurtseven, the veteran center would join a frontcourt that also includes Mathias Lessort, whose play at the Olympics helped generate some NBA buzz. However, Becirovic said that he wasn’t worried about Lessort – whose NBA rights are controlled by the Knicks – making the move stateside this offseason.

“Obviously, we want him to stay as long as possible and we will do everything we can to keep him,” Becirovic said. “No, I wasn’t nervous about him leaving because he didn’t have a contract with the NBA. So I was pretty calm about it. There were also rumors that there was a lot of interest in him. The interest was there, but we never got into serious negotiations to make something happen, like with (Guerschon) Yabusele (leaving Real Madrid for the Sixers) for example.”

Here are a few more items of interest from around the international basketball world:

Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan, who played for the Polish national team during the 2024 Olympic qualifiers, has committed to representing the country next summer at EuroBasket, as Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops relays. As one of the four countries co-hosting EuroBasket 2025, Poland has automatically qualified for the tournament.
Patrick Beverley, who is playing for Hapoel Tel Aviv in Israel in 2024/25, has lofty goals for his new club, as he stated in a video recently posted to his Twitter account. “I don’t want to win, I want complete domination,” Beverley said. “… I don’t even want games to be close. I just want us to stomp the s–t out of everybody.” The veteran guard is aiming to help lead Hapoel Tel Aviv to a EuroCup title next season in order to earn the team a promotion to the EuroLeague.
Four-time NBA All-Star DeMarcus Cousins has joined Wuxi WenLv, a Chinese team on the FIBA 3×3 World Tour, according to an announcement from FIBA (Twitter link). Cousins, who has been out of the NBA since 2022, has played for professional teams in Puerto Rico, Taiwan, and the Philippines since then.

Bruno Caboclo Reportedly Working Out With Warriors

August 27th, 2024 at 7:50am CST by Luke Adams

Former NBA forward Bruno Caboclo is working out with the Warriors this week as he continues to seek a new opportunity in the league, agent Daniel Hazan told Sports Channel in Israel (hat tip to BasketNews.com).

“He will train with the Golden State Warriors until Thursday with the aim of signing a contract, and he believes he will succeed,” Hazan said of his client.

The 20th overall pick in the 2014 draft, Caboclo spent parts of seven seasons in the NBA, but appeared in just 105 total games for the Raptors, Kings, Grizzlies, and Rockets from 2014-21. He averaged 4.2 points and 2.6 rebounds in 12.3 minutes per contest.

Caboclo has been more effective on the international stage, winning a German League (BBL) title in 2023 with Ratiopharm Ulm and earning All-EuroCup Second Team honors that season. He also represented Brazil in this year’s Olympics, leading the national team with 17.3 points and 7.0 rebounds in 22.1 minutes per game across four outings.

Although Caboclo said during the Olympics that he expected to return to KK Partizan for another season after playing for the Serbian club in 2023/24, it now sounds like he may end up elsewhere.

The Warriors could offer him a potential path to a regular season roster spot, since they only have 12 players on guaranteed salaries, with Lindy Waters and Gui Santos (both on non-guaranteed deals) currently penciled in as the 13th and 14th men. Golden State doesn’t currently have enough room under its hard cap to carry a full 15-man roster into the regular season, but could replace Waters or Santos with Caboclo.

If he doesn’t receive an NBA offer, the 6’9″ forward may pursue a deal with Hapoel Tel Aviv. The Israeli team made him an offer earlier this month, and while reporting at the time suggested Caboclo had a small window to accept that offer, his agent told Sports Channel that Tel Aviv remains a possibility.

“We are in negotiations, we are making good progress,” Hazan said. “It’s definitely an option worth keeping.”

And-Ones: Nash, Petrovic, Campazzo, Olympics

August 25th, 2024 at 10:33am CST by Arthur Hill

Steve Nash isn’t looking to return to coaching after his experience in Brooklyn, writes Mindaugas Bertys of BasketNews. Nash was somewhat of a surprising hire when the Nets tabbed him to be their head coach in 2020, overseeing a team that expected to contend for a title with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. He compiled a 94-67 record in a little more than two years, but parted ways with the organization early in the 2022/23 season after the team got off to a 2-5 start.

“Coaching was a great experience for me and my family. I didn’t want to be a career coach. I just wanted to help that project,” Nash said during an appearance Saturday at Goran Dragic‘s farewell game. “I don’t feel like coaching is necessarily in my future. I’m very focused at this time on having as big an impact on my kids as possible.”

With five children, Nash told reporters that his duties as a father are his top priority. He compared the experience to being an “Uber driver,” but added that he hasn’t fully removed himself from basketball.

“At this stage of my life, it has been really rewarding,” Nash said. “That’s really where my focus is, but there are always projects, affiliations and partnerships, and things that are interesting, so I always have something going on.”

There’s more from around the basketball world:

Several current and former NBA players will take part in an exhibition game to honor the memory of Drazen Petrovic, per Johnny Askounis of EuroHoops. The event will take place September 5 in Zagreb to celebrate the legacy of the Croatian star, who was one of the first European players to make an impact in the NBA before he died in an auto accident in 1993. Bojan Bogdanovic, Dario Saric, Ivica Zubac, Damjan Rudez and Gordan Giricek are among the players scheduled to participate.
Facundo Campazzo, who spent three seasons with Denver and Dallas, talked to BasketNews about the differences between the NBA and international basketball and shared some advice he got from Nikola Jokic when he joined the Nuggets in 2020. “He came up to me and said, ‘Forget about everything you learned in FIBA basketball all these years. This is a different sport’ — and it was just like that,” Campazzo recalled. “It’s another way of facing the season, another way of practicing, of playing — also because the rules are different, the game is played in a different way. In fact, Jokic was the point guard. So I had to reinvent my way of playing, but he helped me a lot, it makes you a better player.”
Netflix will air a documentary series next year focusing on the 2024 Olympic basketball competition, according to BasketNews. The IOC granted unlimited access to camera crews throughout the qualification process and the games in France.

And-Ones: Sumner, Ingram, Under-Scrutinized Moves

August 24th, 2024 at 10:23am CST by Earnest Marshall

Former NBA guard Edmond Sumner signed a contract with the Sichuan Blue Whales in China, agent Misko Raznatovic announced (via Twitter). Sumner was the 52nd overall pick in the 2017 draft.

Sumner played five seasons in the NBA, most recently with the Nets in 2022/23. He spent the first four years of his career with the Pacers, averaging 7.5 points per game in ’20/21, his best statistical season. He started in 24 of his 53 appearances that year and looked like a potential long-term fixture with the team.

Unfortunately, Sumner suffered an Achilles injury that kept him out of the entire ’21/22 season. He signed a contract with Brooklyn in the 2022 offseason, averaging 7.1 PPG in 53 games (12 starts). However, he didn’t wind up with the team beyond that and played last season in Lithuania.

In all, Sumner holds NBA averages of 6.2 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 161 career regular season games (41 starts).

We have more from around the basketball world:

The market for Brandon Ingram has stalled this offseason as the Pelicans determine whether an extension is viable or whether there’s a trade that makes sense. Attempting to find a solution for the Ingram situation, Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report proposes a three-team trade involving the Pelicans, Nets and Jazz. In this hypothetical scenario, the Jazz would get Ingram and Day’Ron Sharpe, New Orleans would receive Cameron Johnson and Walker Kessler, and the Nets would acquire John Collins, Brice Sensabaugh and a 2025 first-round pick (the more favorable of Cleveland’s and Minnesota’s picks, from Utah). Pincus reasons that while acquiring Ingram could endanger Utah’s chances at landing a top selection in the draft, he would provide a young running mate on the wing for Lauri Markkanen. Pincus opines that the deal makes sense for the Pelicans because they add shooting and size while the Nets would receive a young prospect and a first-round pick.
After previously breaking down some offseason moves that flew under the radar, John Hollinger of The Athletic takes a look at some of this summer’s transactions that carry more risk. Hollinger writes that Andrew Nembhard‘s contract worries him, because the Pacers already had him under contract for two more seasons at about $2MM per year. This new contract wipes away the second year, meaning he’s getting $57MM in new money over the following two seasons. Hollinger also expresses concerns with multiple various rookie max extensions, Immanuel Quickley‘s contract with the Raptors, Max Christie‘s deal with the Lakers and Patrick Williams‘ long-term agreement with the Bulls.
In case you missed it, Goran Dragic‘s farewell retirement game is streaming on the NBA App at 2 p.m. Eastern. Current and former stars like Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, Steve Nash, and Dirk Nowitzki will be participating.