Mario Hezonja is returning to the NBA.
A former No. 5 pick of Orlando who played five seasons in the NBA before returning to Europe and becoming one of the best players on that continent, Hezonja agreed to return to the NBA at age 31 on a $2.8 million minimum contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers, a story broken by ESPN’s Shams Charania, who was told by Hezonja’s agent (Michael Tellem of Excel Sports Management). Reports of Hezonja’s return had been floating around for a while, but like many, he had to wait for the LeBron James situation to play out before things would come into focus.
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Hezonja’s first NBA stint did not play out as expected — he averaged 6.9 points and 3.1 rebounds a game, shooting 31.9% from 3, never developing into the hoped-for star — and on the way out the door he said, “The NBA is more show than the game itself.”
He returned to Europe, where scouts have told NBC Sports his game has improved. Last season he was the Spanish ABC League MVP playing for Real Madrid, where he averaged 17.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game. There are certainly minutes for him in Cleveland, where there are gaps with Dean Wade and Keon Ellis gone (that is the role the Cavs hoped LeBron would fill).
Signing Hezonja is one of a series of moves the Cavaliers are expected to make after missing out on LeBron. Re-signing James Harden is high on that list as well. Cleveland now has 13 guaranteed spots filled on the roster and $35.5 million below the second apron (via ESPN’s Bobby Marks), and one of the two remaining spots has to be spent on re-signing Harden (likely for around $30 million a season). While the Cavaliers have interest in Jonathan Kuminga, he would have to come in for the $7 million remaining on the Cavs mid-level exception (he wants more than that, but that’s all the Cavs can offer, and a sign-and-trade like Kuminga reportedly wants hard caps the Cavaliers at the first apron, and they would have to cut a lot of salary in that situation, making it highly unlikely).
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