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EuroBasket Notes: Fontecchio, Avdija, Sarr, Vucevic, Sengun

September 1st, 2025 at 1:36pm CST by Earnest Marshall

After shooting a rough 23.8% from the field in Italy’s first two EuroBasket games, Heat forward Simone Fontecchio rebounded in a big way on Sunday. As The Miami Herald’s Anthony Chiang (Twitter link) relays, Fontecchio poured in 39 points while shooting 65.0% from the field and 70.0% from three in a win against Bosnia and Herzegovina. He also added eight rebounds and three assists across 37 minutes.

The Italian forward broke his country’s all-time single-game scoring record, surpassing Andrea Bargnani‘s 36 points in 2011. The only other modern player in Italy’s all-time top five is Danilo Gallinari‘s 33 points in 2015.

Fontecchio’s breakout EuroBasket game, which included seven three-pointers, is an encouraging sign for the Heat. Fontecchio arrived in Miami in the trade that sent the Heat’s all-time leader in three-pointers, Duncan Robinson, to the Pistons.

We have more from EuroBasket:

Israel pulled off an upset in Group D with a 80-69 win over France behind a 23-point, eight-rebound, five-steal performance from Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija, per Eurohoops.net. According to the official French National Team page (Twitter link), Wizards center Alex Sarr missed the game to rest a minor right calf injury.
Bulls center Nikola Vucevic helped deliver Montenegro a huge win over Sweden in Group B, recording 23 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks. As BasketNews details, Vucevic’s performance was one of his best in a national team jersey. “It felt great, great team effort, proud of all the guys, really competed, really left it all on the floor,” Vucevic said. “Anybody that came into the game played, had huge impact at different points right throughout the game and that’s what we needed.”
Alperen Sengun notched 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists against Estonia and has led Turkey to a 4-0 record in Group A. According to Eurohoops.net, the Rockets center became the first player in the last 30 years to record at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists in three straight EuroBasket games.

Thanasis Antetokounmpo Discusses Re-Signing With Bucks

September 1st, 2025 at 11:55am CST by Rory Maher

Bucks general manager Jon Horst, head coach Doc Rivers and top assistant coach Darvin Ham all attended Greece’s opening EuroBasket victory over Italy on Thursday.

While much of the media attention was centered on the Bucks supporting his two-time MVP younger brother, Thanasis Antetokounmpo believes his hustle, energy and defense in the win helped convince Milwaukee to re-sign him, as it was first official contest in more than a year after undergoing surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon in May 2024.

“For sure. They were here after the first game against Italy, and they were excited because I was playing defense,” Antetokounmpo said (stories courtesy of Michalis Gioulenoglou of Eurohoops.net and BasketNews.com). “I was doing my job, that’s my role.

“It’s very important for every player who comes back (from a major injury) to prove himself again. Your résumé counts, I’m not saying it doesn’t, but you have to prove yourself every day. That’s professional basketball.

“It’s not that my stress is gone because I found a team. The only thing I’m thinking about now is (Greece’s Tuesday matchup with Bosnia and Herzegovina). I put in a lot of work to be able to return.”

Antetokounmpo, 33, had spent five years with the Bucks prior to suffering the injury, which sidelined him for the entire 2024/25 season. He finished Greece’s win over Italy with six points, three rebounds, one steal and one block in just under 14 minutes of action, including hitting a key three-pointer late in the fourth quarter, per BasketNews.

The Greek national team advanced to the knockout round of EuroBasket 2025 on Sunday, as we relayed in a separate story.

Brazil Wins FIBA AmeriCup 2025

September 1st, 2025 at 10:41am CST by Rory Maher

In a Sunday night final in which both teams struggled to score, Brazil beat Argentina by a final score of 55-47 to win the gold medal at AmeriCup 2025 in Nicaragua, according to FIBA.

Brazil’s 55 points marked the lowest ever by a champion, per the press release, while the 102 combined points between the two sides were the fewest in any AmeriCup game.

It was a rematch of the 2022 final, with the Brazilian national team avenging its loss and dethroning Argentina to win its fifth AmeriCup championship (first since 2009). Argentina claimed the silver medal as the runner-up.

Brazilian point guard Yago Santos, who competes professionally in the EuroLeague with Crvena Zvezda, was named MVP of the event after averaging 17.8 points, 6.2 assists (against only 1.8 turnovers) and 3.3 rebounds on .485/.487/.880 shooting in six appearances (27.6 minutes per game).

After recording game highs of 25 points and 12 assists in Brazil’s semifinal comeback against Team USA, Santos finished the final with game highs of 14 points and five assists.

The All-Star Five was comprised of Santos, Bruno Caboclo (Brazil), Juan Fernandez (Argentina), Javonte Smart (United States) and Kyshawn George (Canada). Caboclo and Smart are former NBA players, while George — who was making his senior national team debut — is entering his second season with the Wizards.

Prior to the final, the United States and Canada competed in the third-place game. It was another rematch, with the same result as three years ago: the U.S. defeated Canada to win bronze. Team USA was led by 21 points apiece from Smart and Tyler Cavanaugh.

Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado (Puerto Rico) headlined the All-Star Five second team, with Norchad Omier (Nicaragua), Georginho De Paula (Brazil), José Vildoza (Argentina) and Mfiondu Kabengele (Canada) rounding out the group.

Omier is expected to sign an Exhibit 10 deal with the Cavaliers after going undrafted in June, while Kabengele spent parts of three seasons in the NBA, last suiting up for Boston in 2022/23. Alvarado was injured during Puerto Rico’s quarterfinal loss.

Clifford Omoruyi Signs Two-Year Deal With Maccabi Tel Aviv

September 1st, 2025 at 9:46am CST by Rory Maher

Undrafted free agent Clifford Omoruyi has officially signed a two-year contract with Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv, the team announced in a press release.

“Heading into this summer’s free agency, we were looking for a player with impressive physical presence and dynamism at center,” explained general manager Claudio Coldebella (translation via Eurohoops.net). “One who can rebound at the highest level (especially on offense), protect the paint and rim with athletic presence, and be effective in pick-and-roll defense. All while also offering offensive ability to run the floor thanks to his athleticism, and complementing the dynamism of our guards.”

Israeli journalist Moshe Barda reported (via Twitter) a few days ago that Omoruyi was a candidate to join Maccabi Tel Aviv (hat tip to BackdoorPodcast.com).

A 6’11” big man from Nigeria, Omoruyi spent his first four college seasons at Rutgers, earning Big Ten All-Defensive honors in back-to-back years (2023 and 2024) prior to transferring to Alabama. As fifth-year senior in 2024/25, he averaged 7.9 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 19.2 minutes per game across 37 appearances for the Crimson Tide.

While we don’t typically cover international signings of players with no NBA experience, multiple reports indicated that Omoruyi was expected to sign a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 deal with the Raptors shortly after he went undrafted in June. However, that contract was never finalized, and now the 23-year-old will begin his post-college career overseas.

Talen Horton-Tucker Nearing Deal With Fenerbahce, Hoping To Stay In NBA

September 1st, 2025 at 9:06am CST by Rory Maher

Guard/forward Talen Horton-Tucker, who has spent the past six years in the NBA after being selected 46th overall in the 2019 draft, is finalizing a contract with Turkish powerhouse Fenerbahce, reports Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews.com.

According to Urbonas’ sources, Horton-Tucker is still hoping to sign another NBA contract, but if he is unable to find a deal he likes, he’s expected to sign with the reigning EuroLeague champions.

Bugra Uzar of Eurohoops.net confirms the news, stating that Horton-Tucker has a deal in place with Fenerbahce but it won’t be completed yet as the 24-year-old awaits another NBA opportunity. A final decision is expected to be made in the next few days, Uzar adds.

Horton-Tucker won a championship as a rookie with the Lakers in 2020 and spent three years in Los Angeles prior to being traded to Utah in the 2022 offseason. He spent the next two years with the Jazz, but was unable to find a guaranteed contract as an unrestricted free agent last summer.

The Chicago native signed a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 deal with the Bulls last September and wound up making the team’s regular season roster — he was the only player on an Exhibit 10 contract last fall to have that deal become a standard non-guaranteed deal.

Horton-Tucker, who said it was a “dream come true” to open the 2024/25 season with his hometown team, not only made the roster but eventually had his contract guaranteed when the Bulls decided to keep him around past the January deadline to waive non-guaranteed deals.

Overall, Horton-Tucker appeared in 58 games last season off the bench, averaging 6.5 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 12.5 minutes per contest, with a shooting line of .457/.336/.735. He holds career averages of 9.2 PPG, 2.6 RPG and 2.8 APG on .427/.299/.771 shooting in 305 games (19.5 MPG).

As Urbonas notes, Fenerbahce’s roster features several former NBA players, including Brandon Boston Jr., who spent last season with New Orleans.

Mavericks Re-Sign Dante Exum

September 1st, 2025 at 8:10am CST by Luke Adams

September 1: Nearly two months after his deal was first reported, Exum has re-signed with Dallas, per NBA.com’s official transactions log. As we detailed in a separate story, the Mavs opened up room under the hard cap and a roster spot by waiving and stretching Prosper.

July 2: The Mavericks and Dante Exum have reached an agreement on a one-year deal that will extend the veteran guard’s stay in Dallas, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

Exum, who will turn 30 later this month, spent the first seven years of his professional career in the NBA, playing for Utah and Cleveland after being selected fifth overall in the 2014 draft. However, he struggled to establish himself as a reliable rotation player, due in part to his lack of offensive production.

Exum played in Europe for two seasons from 2021-23, developing a reliable three-point shot during his time with Barcelona and Partizan Belgrade, then returned stateside during the 2023 offseason and has played in Dallas since then.

Injuries, which hampered Exum’s development earlier in his career, have continued to be an issue during his second NBA stint, limiting him to 75 total appearances across the past two seasons, including just 20 last season due to right wrist surgery and a broken left hand.

But he has been a very effective role player for the Mavs when healthy, averaging 8.0 points, 2.8 assists, and 2.4 rebounds in 19.5 minutes per game, with a shooting line of .516/.472/.768.

Once Irving’s new deal is done and Russell officially signs, the Mavs won’t have enough room below a hard cap at the second tax apron to re-sign Exum on a minimum-salary deal, so they’ll need to make a corresponding roster move at some point to finalize all those moves, as cap expert Yossi Gozlan notes (via Twitter).

Waiving Brandon Williams, whose salary is mostly non-guaranteed, would be the easiest path to creating that space below the second apron, but he was productive in a rotation role during the second half of last season. Olivier-Maxence Prosper, a 2023 first-round pick, has been considered a trade candidate.

Mavericks Notes: Thompson, Irving, Dead Money

August 31st, 2025 at 10:04pm CST by Rory Maher

Appearing on the Showtime With Michael Cooper Lakers Podcast (YouTube link), Mavericks wing Klay Thompson said Kyrie Irving is the “toughest guy” he’s ever guarded and has “no weaknesses in his game,” as Ashish Mathur of DallasHoopsJournal.com relays.

“It’s nice to be his teammate,” Thompson said of Irving. “You know, Kyrie and I had so many battles during those years at Golden State. We saw Cleveland four straight years in the Finals, three of them being with Kai.

“And I’ll never forget, I know you always used to check the best offensive player, and some nights there’s just nothing you could do when you’re guarding a guy like Michael (Jordan) or Larry (Bird) or Isiah (Thomas). Same thing with Kyrie.”

Here’s more on the Mavs:

Irving, who tore the ACL in his left knee in early March, provided a minor injury update last week, saying he was “healing up great.” Overtime released a short video (Twitter link) on Sunday showing Irving practicing floaters and jump shots at the NBPA practice facility in New York (hat tip to Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal). Afseth notes that the nine-time All-Star appeared to be “moving comfortably on the court.”
After waiving and stretching 2023 first-round pick Olivier-Maxence Prosper on Friday, Dallas will now carry a $3.2MM dead-money cap hit each of the next three years, tweets Keith Smith of Spotrac. Only about $1MM of that total came from stretching Prosper’s contract; the other $2.2MM is owed to JaVale McGee, who was cut by the Mavericks a couple years ago.
In case you missed it, multiple reporters have indicated that P.J. Washington is likely to sign an extension with Dallas now that he’s officially eligible to do so, though the exact terms remain unclear.

International Signings: Thomas, Mané, Graham, Robinson

August 31st, 2025 at 8:52pm CST by Rory Maher

Former NBA sharpshooter Matt Thomas has signed with Fundacion CB Granada for the 2025/26 season, the Spanish team announced in a press release (hat tip to Albert De Roa of HoopsHype).

Thomas, 31, appeared in 126 NBA games over three years from 2019-22, suiting up for Toronto, Utah and Chicago. He has spent the past two seasons in the EuroLeague with Germany’s ALBA Berlin.

In 21 EuroLeague contests in 2024/25, Thomas averaged 12.3 points while shooting 46.2% from long distance in 24.1 minutes per game. Granada went just 9-25 in Spain’s top domestic league (Liga ACB) last season.

Here are a few more international signings to pass along:

Senegalese-Canadian guard Karim Mané has signed with the French team Rouen Metropole Basket for the upcoming season, according to a press release. Mané played 10 games with Orlando while on a two-way deal during the 2020/21 campaign. The 25-year-old recently helped Senegal claim its third consecutive third-place finish at AfroBasket. Mané played for teams in Greece and Canada last season. RMB competes in the LNB Pro B, France’s second division.
Veteran wing Treveon Graham has re-signed with the Taoyuan Pauian Pilots of the Taiwanese P. League+, per De Roa of HoopsHype. The Maryland native spent four years in the NBA, spending time with Charlotte, Brooklyn, Minnesota and Atlanta. Graham has also played in the G League and in Canada since his last NBA stint in 2019/20.
Forward Devin Robinson is heading back to Spain, having signed a one-year deal with Basket Zaragoza, the team announced. Robinson, who appeared in eight games with the Wizards over two NBA seasons (from 2017-19), has spent the past four years in Europe, playing in Germany, Spain and Slovenia. In 18 EuroCup games with Cedevita Olimpija in ’24/25, the 6’7″ wing averaged 14.8 PPG, 5.3 RPG and 1.2 SPG in 27.9 MPG. Zaragoza went 13-21 in the Liga ACB last season.

Greece, Poland Advance To EuroBasket Round Of 16

August 31st, 2025 at 6:55pm CST by Rory Maher

The men’s national teams of Greece and Poland have advanced to the round of 16 at EuroBasket 2025, according to FIBA, joining Finland, Germany, Serbia and Turkey as clubs that have qualified.

Greece (Group C) and Poland (Group D) have both gone undefeated through three of their five group phase games. Greece moved on today with a win and a Cyprus loss (0-3).

The Greek squad, led by two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo (27 points on 9-of-11 shooting, eight rebounds, four assists in 25 minutes), cruised to a 41-point victory over Georgia, notes Eurohoops. Georgia essentially threw in the towel before the game even began, resting center Goga Bitadze (DNP-CD) and forward Tornike Shengelia (under four minutes of action).

“We had two options, to go to what’s 100% for us, or to try to keep ourselves healthy for the last two games,” Georgian coach Aleksandar Džikić said postgame. “We decided to follow the second option. It was my decision, and we know what our goal is. We don’t like it, my players don’t like it, but today it was the smart thing to do.”

The Poles advanced to the knockout round by outlasting Iceland (0-3) in a close game on Sunday, per Sportando. Poland was once again led by ex-NBA guard Jordan Loyd (game-high 26 points) and veteran EuroLeague wing Mateusz Ponitka (18 points, eight rebounds, eight assists) — both players have had excellent showings to this point.

In case you missed it, Antetokounmpo will reportedly remain with Milwaukee to open the 2025/26 season after the team re-signed his older brother Thanasis Antetokounmpo to a guaranteed minimum-salary contract. Thanasis is also competing for Team Greece.

Cavaliers Notes: Strus, Merrill, Wade, Tyson, Hunter, Ball

August 31st, 2025 at 5:30pm CST by Rory Maher

In a subscriber-only mailbag for Cleveland.com, Chris Fedor states that Max Strus was slated to be the Cavaliers‘ starting small forward this fall prior to suffering a Jones fracture in his left foot last week. The injury required surgery and will sideline Strus for multiple months.

Fedor cautions that while the team gave a three-to-four month timeline for Strus to return to basketball activities, his actual absence will likely extend beyond that period. As Fedor observes, Jones fractures can be tricky and slow to heal, plus the Cavaliers typically take a cautious approach to injuries — it’s possible Strus might end up missing about half of the season.

Here’s more on the Cavaliers:

Strus isn’t the only starter likely to be out to open 2025/26, Fedor notes, as All-Star point guard Darius Garland is still recovering from offseason toe surgery after being hobbled by the injury in the postseason. Sam Merrill, who re-signed with the Cavs on a four-year, $38MM deal this summer, is the “most obvious” player who needs to step up with Garland and Strus out, according to Fedor, who says the former second-round pick (60th overall in 2020) will likely be a replacement starter.
It will take a team effort to cover for Strus and Garland during their absences. Veteran forward Dean Wade and second-year guard Jaylon Tyson are among the other players who should get more opportunities, Fedor writes, with Wade perhaps slotting in as the fifth starter. Head coach Kenny Atkinson may prefer to have De’Andre Hunter in a sixth man role to have more scoring punch off the bench, Fedor adds.
According to Fedor, Tyson may be the biggest X-factor for the rotation, because the team had already planned him give him more run prior to Strus’ injury. The 2024 first-round pick (20th overall) will have a real chance to carve out minutes if he plays well, as Atkinson is high on him and is curious to see how he’ll mesh with the “core four” of Donovan Mitchell, Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen once Garland returns.
Offseason trade acquisition Lonzo Ball is another player who will fit into the rotation, Fedor writes. However, it remains to be seen how active the 27-year-old guard will be. After missing two-plus years with a knee injury, Ball played surprisingly well in his return to action in ’24/25, but he was limited to just 35 games due to multiple wrist injuries.