International Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Leandro Bolmaro Signs With Bayern Munich

July 19th, 2023 at 9:54am CST by Tristan Tucker

Free agent guard Leandro Bolmaro, the No. 23 overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, officially signed with FC Bayern Munich of Basketball Bundesliga, the club announced in a press release. The pact is a two-year deal that will keep Bolmaro with the team until 2025, according to the release.

Bolmaro was drafted by the Knicks but his draft rights were traded to the Timberwolves in a three-team deal that also involved Jaden McDaniels (No. 28 overall) landing in Minnesota. The 6’6″ guard didn’t come stateside right away and played for FC Barcelona of Liga ACB, where he earned the Most Spectacular Player award in 2020/21.

After the conclusion of the ’20/21 season, Bolmaro signed his rookie scale contract with the Timberwolves. The guard played sparingly his rookie season and averaged 1.4 points in 35 games. Bolmaro played much more in the G League with the Iowa Wolves, averaging 14.8 points and 5.7 assists per night in 2021/22.

Bolmaro was included last summer in the blockbuster trade between the Timberwolves and Jazz that sent Rudy Gobert to Minnesota. He again played well in the G League in ’22/23, now for the Salt Lake City Stars, averaging 11.2 points and 4.9 assists in 16 appearances, but failed to catch on in Utah. Ultimately, Bolmaro played in just 14 games with the Jazz, averaging 0.4 points in 4.9 minutes per game.

Bolmaro was waived in February of this year and finished the ’22/23 season with Lenovo Tenerife of the Spanish ACB. Meanwhile, Bayern Munich finished the ’22/23 season 15th of 18 teams in the EuroLeague, ending with an 11-23 record.

Nets, Cavaliers To Play In NBA’s 2024 Paris Game

July 19th, 2023 at 9:01am CST by Luke Adams

The Nets and Cavaliers will compete in the NBA’s Paris Game in 2024, the league announced today in a press release.

The game will take place at the Accor Arena in Paris, France on January 11, 2024.

After having previously only held exhibition games in Paris, the NBA played its first regular season game at Accor Arena in January 2020, when the Bucks faced the Hornets. Following a three-year layoff due to COVID-19, the league returned to Paris this past January, with the Bulls facing the Pistons.

The contest between the Nets and Cavaliers will be the NBA’s third regular season game in France. It’ll also be the first one that features two playoff teams from the prior season.

“We’re thrilled to be bringing the live NBA experience back to Paris with two exciting teams in the Brooklyn Nets and the Cleveland Cavaliers,” NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum said in a statement. “This game has become a destination for our passionate fans across Europe and will build on the incredible momentum around basketball and the NBA in France and throughout the region.”

The NBA’s popularity in France figures to be on the rise this season due to the stateside arrival of No. 1 overall pick and generational prospect Victor Wembanyama. A previous report indicated that there’s hope that the Frenchman’s Spurs will get a chance to participate in the Paris game in 2025.

The league announced in May that the Mavericks and Timberwolves will take part in a pair of October preseason games in Abu Dhabi, but has yet to confirm any other regular season games that will take place outside of the U.S. or Canada in 2023/24. Last season, in addition to the Paris contest, the Spurs hosted a December game in Mexico City.

And-Ones: Towns, Smith, George, Moneke

July 18th, 2023 at 6:58pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The President of the Dominican Basketball Federation, Rafael Uribe, says there’s a “90 percent” chance that Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns will play in this summer’s FIBA World Cup, Hoops Hype relays. The Dominican team also has several other NBA performers. Lester Quinones, Justin Minaya and Chris Duarte will be part of the Dominican squad that will play a warm-up match against the University of Memphis on August 2, Diamante Deportivo tweets.

We have more from around the basketball world:

Jabari Smith‘s scoring explosion was one of the notable developments in the Summer League, The Athletic’s John Hollinger writes in a recap of this month’s action. The Rockets’ second-year forward scored 71 points in his 64 summer minutes, signaling that he could be a breakout performer next season after struggling through his rookie campaign.
In a similar story, ESPN’s Insiders take a closer look at the Summer League’s surprises and disappointments. Kendra Andrews and Tim Bontemps both note that Jazz rookie Keyonte George, the 16th overall pick, was a standout.
Former NBA forward Chima Moneke has finalized a two-year agreement with Spain’s Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, according to BasketNews.com. Moneke played with AC Monaco last season after a stint with the Kings. Moneke appeared in two NBA games before Sacramento waived him in January.

Jahlil Okafor Officially Signs With Spanish Club

July 17th, 2023 at 3:56pm CST by Rory Maher

Free agent center Jahlil Okafor, the No. 3 overall pick of the 2015 draft, has officially signed with Casademont Zaragoza of Spain’s Liga ACB, the team announced (via Twitter). According to Eurohoops.net, Okafor inked a one-year contract.

Olga Lorent of Onda Regional was the first to report that Zaragoza was trying to close a deal with Okafor.

A college star at Duke who helped lead the Blue Devils to the NCAA Championship in 2014/15, Okafor was drafted by the 76ers, spending his first two-plus seasons with the club. The 27-year-old bounced around the NBA for the next handful of seasons, playing for the Nets, Pelicans and Pistons from 2017-21.

Known as a strong post scorer who is limited defensively, Okafor’s last season in the league came back in 2020/21 with Detroit. In six NBA seasons, he holds career averages of 10.4 points and 4.7 rebounds in 247 regular season games (116 starts, 19.5 minutes).

Okafor signed a training camp deal with Atlanta ahead of ’21/22, but was released before the season started. He wound up playing for the Zhejiang Lions in China. Last season, the veteran big man played for the Mexico City Capitanes of the NBA G League, averaging 19.2 points and 7.5 rebounds in 16 games (27.0 minutes).

This will be the first European stint for Okafor, who suited up for Team Nigeria during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Zaragoza finished 12-22 during the ’22/23 regular season, 13th out of 18 Liga ACB teams.

And-Ones: Kaminsky, Okafor, Jones, Las Vegas

July 16th, 2023 at 8:37pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Frank Kaminsky is reportedly drawing interest from Maccabi Tel Aviv, Cesare Milanti of Eurohoops.net relays. Kaminsky has been in the NBA since 2015 with 413 regular-season games under his belt. An unrestricted free agent this summer, the veteran forward/center appeared in a total of 36 games last season for the Hawks and Rockets. He’s averaged 8.8 points and 3.8 rebounds in 19.8 minutes during his career.

We have more from around the basketball world:

Jahlil Okafor is another veteran NBA big man who might be signing a contract overseas. Eurohoops.net relays a report by Olga Lorent from Onda Regional (Twitter link) that Spain’s Casademont Zaragoza is close to signing the 2015 lottery pick. Okafor hasn’t appeared in an NBA game since he played 27 games for the Pistons during the 2020/21 season. The former No. 3 overall pick signed a contract with the Hawks the subsequent offseason but was waived in October 2021.
Mason Jones has signed with the Turkish team Darussafaka, according to Sportando. Jones has appeared in a total of 36 NBA games, most recently a four-game stint with the Lakers during the 2020/21 season.
The Las Vegas Summer League has turned into a major event and the city will host the semifinals and final of the new in-season tournament. Mark Medina of TheSportingTribune.com takes a look at how Vegas has become an NBA hot spot.

Shaquille Harrison Drawing EuroLeague Interest

July 15th, 2023 at 3:53pm CST by Rory Maher

Free agent guard Shaquille Harrison is drawing “strong interest” from EuroLeague teams, according to a report from Eurohoops.net.

Harrison had eight brief playoff cameos for the Lakers in 2022/23. He signed with L.A. on the last day of the regular season following a 10-day hardship deal with the Trail Blazers.

The 29-year-old was waived by the Lakers at the end of last month before his non-guaranteed contract became fully guaranteed. He has yet to catch on with a new club, and could be heading to Europe for the first time.

Harrison went undrafted in 2016 after four college seasons at Tulsa. He spent his first two pro seasons playing in the NBA G League for the Northern Arizona Suns, Phoenix’s former affiliate team.

He was eventually promoted by the Suns, making his NBA debut as a rookie in 2017/18. In total, Harrison has appeared in 180 regular season games across six seasons with Phoenix, Chicago, Utah, Denver, Brooklyn and Portland, holding career averages of 5.3 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 1.7 APG and 1.0 SPG on .435/.281/.718 shooting in 15.4 MPG.

Harrison also had a 10-day hardship deal with Memphis last year, though he never played a game for the Grizzlies.

Known as strong defender, Harrison spent the majority of the past two seasons in the G League, winning NBAGL Defensive Player of the Year in ’21/22 and finishing third last season.

And-Ones: Waiters, Wade, Hernangomez, C. Brown

July 14th, 2023 at 12:24pm CST by Luke Adams

Speaking to Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report after a workout for teams in Las Vegas this week, veteran guard Dion Waiters openly discussed the reasons he has been out of the NBA for the last three seasons and what he feels he needs to do to earn another shot. According to Waiters, he took his time in the NBA for granted, so his exit from the league has been a learning experience that he has been able to pass along to his son.

“I told him, ‘Bro, your dad is not [out of] the league because of talent. It was my attitude, my character, and not understanding that it’s bigger than me,'” Waiters said. “I feel like I had to go through this so I could explain that to my son, and that’s the dead truth.”

A former fourth overall pick, Waiters has appeared in 419 regular season games, but hasn’t played in the NBA since 2020. Still just 31, the former Syracuse standout tells Haynes that he feels like he still has “a lot left in the tank” and that he believes he can be a positive leader in the locker room in addition to helping a team on the court.

“I’m healthy. I just want that opportunity just to show I’m not who I once was. And I know a lot of people talk about that, but for me, I think it’s more about showing that I’ve changed,” Waiters said. “That’s why I’m here, man. I still got that love. I still got that itch.”

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Dwyane Wade, a 13-time NBA All-Star who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in August, has invested in the WNBA’s Chicago Sky and will become part of the team’s ownership group, writes Alexa Philippou of ESPN.com. “It’s a great opportunity to be a part of the league in its very early stages,” Wade said. “… Growth is going to happen, and so I want to be a part of the growth of this league.”
While there have been rumblings that Juancho Hernangomez may join brother Willy Hernangomez in signing with FC Barcelona, Juancho said in a conversation with Spanish outlet Marca that “speculation is just speculation” and stressed that he remains focused on finding another NBA job, as Alessandro Maggi of Sportando relays.
Free agent guard Charlie Brown Jr. has been a standout for the Knicks at the Las Vegas Summer League, averaging 17.3 PPG and 6.0 RPG in three games (28.4 MPG). Zach Braziller of The New York Post takes a closer look at the play of Brown, who is hoping that his performance in Vegas will inspire a team to sign him for training camp.
In an entertaining article for The Athletic, John Hollinger discusses the eight “nerdiest” things that happened in free agency, digging into the details of the Rockets’ sign-and-trade for Dillon Brooks, Paul Reed‘s offer sheet, and Oklahoma City becoming a dumping ground for unwanted contracts, among other moves.

Willy Hernangomez Signs Three-Year Deal With Barcelona

July 12th, 2023 at 7:54pm CST by Rory Maher

Willy Hernangomez has officially signed a three-year contract with FC Barcelona of Spain’s ACB league, per a team press release. The news was anticipated, with Barcelona inking the free agent big man to an offer sheet, which his former Spanish club Real Madrid (prior to his NBA stint) chose not to match.

Hernangomez, 29, has spent the past seven seasons in the NBA with the Knicks, Hornets and most recently the Pelicans. He was the 35th pick of the 2015 draft and made his debut with New York a year later.

A backup center, Hernangomez appeared in 135 games across three seasons with New Orleans, averaging 8.0 points and 6.3 rebounds in 15.9 minutes per contest. The Pelicans declined their $2.6MM team option for the 2023/24 season on Hernangomez’s contract last month, putting him on track to return to Europe.

Hernangomez has also starred for the Spanish national team, winning MVP of last year’s EuroBasket tournament while leading Spain to a gold medal.

It’s possible Hernangomez will reunite with his brother Juancho Hernangomez in Barcelona, as the the team reportedly made an offer to Juancho. The free agent forward, who also holds seven years of NBA experience, spent part of last season with the Raptors before being waived in February.

And-Ones: Howard, Team USA, F. Jackson, Zikarsky

July 7th, 2023 at 4:01pm CST by Luke Adams

Longtime NBA center Dwight Howard was out of the league during the 2022/23 season, which he spent in Taiwan. However, he still believes he can be a productive player in an NBA rotation, he said during a wide-ranging interview with Zion Olojede of Complex.com.

“I know that there’s at least 15 to 20 teams that I could play for,” Howard said. “And I know there’s teams that got great starting centers, but I know I could be a great backup center. I know I can provide a team with 25 minutes of dominant basketball. And that’s not even scoring, that’s just playing defense, locking people up, protecting the paint, rebounding, and finishing around the basket. I’ve had my fun in the game. I just want to go out like a champ like I’m supposed to.”

Referencing a June interview in which Howard said he’d love to join the Kings, Olojede asked the three-time Defensive Player of the Year which five teams he believes would be good matches for him.

“Okay, you got Miami Heat. You got obviously, the Lakers. The Warriors,” Howard said. “The Kings. But the Kings, I would say the Kings got a couple centers so they probably wouldn’t. But the Kings. The Hawks. I’m from Atlanta, go back home with the Hawks.”

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Discussing his roster for the upcoming FIBA World Cup for the first time on Friday, Team USA head coach Steve Kerr said he plans to lean heavily on Knicks guard Jalen Brunson and Nets forward Mikal Bridges. As Joe Vardon of The Athletic writes, Kerr envisions Brunson having “a pretty big role” and intends to rely on Bridges defensively to match up against opponents’ high-scoring wings.
Veteran NBA guard Frank Jackson, who had a brief stint with the Jazz this past season, will continue his career overseas, having signed a deal with French team ASVEL, per a press release. Jackson had appeared in 214 career regular season NBA games since being drafted in 2017.
Rocco Zikarsky, a 7’3″ Australian big man, has decided to forgo a move to the NCAA in favor of joining the Brisbane Bullets as part of the National Basketball League’s Next Stars program, he tells Jonathan Givony of ESPN. Zikarsky, who will turn 17 next week, won’t be draft-eligible until at least 2025, but is considered one of the world’s best basketball prospects, per Givony.
John Hollinger of The Athletic doesn’t want to go so far as to call them the “losers” of free agency, but has questions about the offseason moves made so far by the Raptors, Pelicans, Kings, Trail Blazers, and Nuggets.

Willy Hernangomez Expected To Join Barcelona

July 7th, 2023 at 9:39am CST by Luke Adams

After spending the last seven seasons in the NBA, Willy Hernangomez is expected to head back home to continue his playing career. FC Barcelona has submitted an offer sheet for the Spanish big man, per a press release from Spain’s ACB league.

Although Real Madrid – Hernangomez’s former team before he arrived in the NBA – has the right to match Barcelona’s offer, Madrid doesn’t intend to take advantage of its opportunity to do so, reports Stavros Barbarousis of Eurohoops.net. That will clear a path for Hernangomez to end up in Barcelona.

The 35th overall pick in the 2015 draft, Hernangomez arrived in the NBA with the Knicks in 2016. He spent a season-and-a-half in New York before moving onto Charlotte and then New Orleans, where he has played for the last three seasons.

A backup center for the Pelicans, Hernangomez appeared in 135 games across three seasons, averaging 8.0 points and 6.3 rebounds in 15.9 minutes per contest. New Orleans declined its $2.6MM team option for the 2023/24 season on the 29-year-old’s contract last month, putting him on track to return to Europe.

It’s possible Hernangomez will reunite with his brother Juancho Hernangomez in Barcelona. According to Barbarousis, the team has made an offer to Juancho, who spent part of last season with the Raptors before being waived in February.