TUESDAY, 10:43am: The contract will cover three seasons, Pick hears (Twitter link).
MONDAY, 3:09pm: It’s a multiyear deal, a source tells David Pick of Eurobasket.com. There will be several outs in the contract, Pick hears, though it’s unclear whether any of them pertain to the NBA (Twitter links).
10:02am: Free agent center Gustavo Ayon has agreed to play for Real Madrid in Spain, reports Igor Minteguia of Solobasket.com (translation via HoopsHype). It’s not immediately clear just how lucrative the deal is or just what sort of escape clauses the contract will contain to allow him to return to the NBA sometime soon.
The Spurs had reportedly been interested in him, among other potential free agent targets, but overseas options had reportedly been proving more lucrative than any stateside offers for the Emilio Duran client. Ayon spent the past three seasons in the NBA after signing a three-year, $4.5MM deal with New Orleans shortly after the lockout. He averaged 5.9 points and 4.9 rebounds in 20.2 minutes per game as a rookie but didn’t match those numbers in either of his next two seasons. It appeared he had an opportunity to head to China before Real Madrid gave him the chance to return to Spain, where he played before entering the NBA.
Former Raptors point guard Dwight Buycks, who signed with Valencia, also jumped to Spain this summer after having played in the NBA this past season. The 29-year-old Ayon will join fellow NBA veterans Andres Nocioni, Rudy Fernandez, Sergio Rodriguez among the notable names on Madrid’s roster for the coming season.