TASS: Heat, Kings are Nets competition for Milos Teodosic

Andrey Kartashov, the lead basketball writer for TASS, the big Russian news agency, reports Friday that the Nets, Heat and Kings are all pursuing Milos Teodosic, the CSKA Moscow point guard.

Kartashov reported the news in a tweet.

The Nets and Kings have been widely reported as among the top possibilities for the 6’5” Serbia-born Teodosic. The Heat are a new player in the pursuit.

The Nets have repeatedly scouted the 30-year-old, the last time sending Sean Marks, Kenny Atkinson, Mikhail Prokhorov, Dmitry Razumov and Sergei Kushchenko to a game in Moscow.

The Kings GM, of course, is Vlade Divac, the former Serbian star. They like the Nets are in the midst of a rebuild. The Heat, on the other hand, finished just out of the playoffs even without Chris Bosh. Bosh was forced to retire because of his heart problems... and his salary has been removed from Miami’s cap.

Teodosic is expected to command a first year salary of $8 to $10 million.

The Heat currently have $38 million in cap space, one of two teams with more than the Nets, who have $33 million. They do want to re-sign Dion Waiters, the 6’4” swing man. He will cost them more than $10 million. The Kings cap picture is more murky with a number of decisions that could affect their salary and cap space dramatically.

Miami could play Teodosic alongside Goran Dragic, just as Brooklyn could play him next to or behind Jeremy Lin. The Heat of course are a lot closer to the playoffs than the Nets.

Teodosic has said he wants to play in a “competitive” situation if he’s going to l Europe. He’s expected to make his first decision, on whether to leave Europe, once CSKA finishes up its Russian league playoffs which would be next week. Then if he decides to leave Europe, he’ll choose which team. No decision can become official until at least July 7.

The Nets and Heat, of course, competed for a point guard last summer, too. The Nets tendered Tyler Johnson a four-year, $50 million contract, which the Heat matched. There’s also bad blood between the two organizations based on the Nets decision to rest Jeremy Lin, Brook Lopez and Trevor Booker in the season’s final game vs. Chicago. The Heat needed a Nets win over the Bulls to make the playoffs. The Nets lost to the Bulls and Miami went home.