Jazz center Ekpe Udoh will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason, and there’s no guarantee he’ll remain in the NBA. According to Eric Woodyard of The Deseret News, Udoh is drawing significant interest from a handful of EuroLeague teams.
A source tells Woodyard that Udoh has “up to four or five multi-million-dollar offers” on the table from teams in Spain, Italy, and Turkey. Woodyard adds that if Udoh is interested in playing overseas, he could look to reach an agreement within the next week.
Udoh, who began his career with the Warriors in 2010 after being selected sixth overall in that year’s draft, remained in the NBA through the 2014/15 season, then joined Turkish team Fenerbahce for two years. He won a EuroLeague title with the club in 2017 and was named the EuroLeague Final Four MVP before heading back to the NBA with the Jazz.
Now that his contract with Utah is set to expire, the veteran big man could be intrigued by a return to Europe, where he’d have a more sizable role than the one he has had in the NBA. In 114 total games for the Jazz over the last two seasons, Udoh averaged 2.5 PPG, 2.1 RPG, and 0.9 BPG in limited minutes (9.9 MPG). He’s open to staying in the NBA, depending on his role, sources tell Tony Jones of The Athletic (Twitter link).
If Udoh remains in the NBA, he and his representatives will be able to talk to and meet with potential suitors beginning at the end of June. There’s nothing stopped European teams from reaching out to his camp before then, since they’re not subject to the NBA’s anti-tampering rules.
GSW draft bust.
Todd Fuller, Michael pietras, Juri Welsh, Ike diogu, Patrick O’Bryant… that’s just the top of my head.
Chris Mullin was a wonderful GM.
Set us back a decade.
Not only crummy draft picks, but the Warriors in those years I think Mullin was responsible for this as well, signed Dunleavy Jr and Troy Murphy to Big contracts.
Mullin wised-up brought in Don Nelson who immediately shipped out Dunleavy Jr and Murphy to the Pacers.
Those horrible years make this little five-year run all the sweeter.
In other words, his agent told him there was little to no interest from any NBA teams.
Exactly.
Don’t discount enthusiasm from the Euro side. He would be associated with winning, on either continent, and had mostly great stats. 21PER, +35net, 5.7def.box+/-, but a wildly divergent minus10 on/off and only 320 minutes. He must have been playing for his next contract more than for the team… probably was anticipating a Euro-move.
Top of the league in Euroleague means little to nothing next to the elevated competition level in the NBA. He is for sure on the NBA’s Bust list. His play was not at all beneficial for the GSW, despite his high draft pick. So many wasted draft picks in those not-so-long-ago days. We waited impatiently for a LONG time for the Dubs to get it together!
I liked him in Milwaukee. He just never got better