Veteran power forward Nikola Mirotic will sign with EuroLeague club Barcelona, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. The terms of his deal have not yet been disclosed.
On the heels of Darren Collison‘s stunning retirement announcement, this is another surprising decision that takes a second high-quality free agent off the market just before the new league year begins.
Mirotic was expected to be in line for a deal worth approximately $45-50MM if he had remained in the NBA, Charania adds. He made $12.5MM during the 2018/19 season, though he was forced to move to Milwaukee when the Pelicans dealt him to the Bucks at the trade deadline.
The 28-year-old’s decision makes the Bucks’ offseason priority a little clearer. Malcolm Brogdon, Brook Lopez, and Khris Middleton are all in need of new contracts and it would have been difficult for Milwaukee to bring back all of their pending free agents.
There were whispers that Mirotic would consider a deal in Spain, as Sportando recently relayed. He had played for Real Madrid prior to coming over to the NBA in 2014.
The Mavericks and Jazz were among the teams expected to have interest in Mirotic. Since coming to the league in 2014, Mirotic has seen action in 319 contests.
“Forced to move to Milwaukee…” to play for a contending Bucks team whilst making millions of dollars. Perhaps rephrasing the pity party in the second paragraph is in order.
Maybe Miro didn’t want a trade.
Mirotic did not request a trade and if he had his choice of places to go Milwaukee surely was not at the top of his list. So, yes he was forced to move there. The fact that he left millions on the table to go back to Spain speaks to his concern for the quality of his life and not just a fat paycheck.
He did not look happy there, did not really integrate in, did not get much PT or play well, was acquired in the first place for insurance not for starting or even a task, and ‘whilst’ should be left with the Brits.
Nice avatar though. With Stretch-4s thinning out already, the Cavs will might get a solid offer and my guy may be on the move to some other account!
Exactly
Although I would have been surprised to see him get more than 2 years at $8-10 million per, this is extremely surprising to me. That being said, I’ve heard some negative things about his attitude the last couple of years, and he always seemed a little smug to me, so maybe he just wants to go back to being “European lebron”
Guy just wants to live elsewhere
He’s an UFA (or was). Nothing could be more irrelevant than his like or dislike for Milwaukee.
Very few cities in the league can beat living in Barcelona… so no blame there, smart guy!!!
Forced to play with the MVP on the team with the best record in basketball. Pretty tough assignment.
While pulling down 1 million dollars a month.