:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/60353271/g_20180622_rookies_11.0.jpg)
Big day for Dzanan Musa and Rodions Kurucs!
The Nets two rookies are now free of their European contract commitments, their buyouts with Cedevita of Croatia and F.C. Barcelona of Spain finally resolved. Musa, the Nets 29th pick, and Kurucs, the 40th pick, can now move forward with their NBA careers.
The Nets made it official with Musa, signing him to a four-year rookie scale contract that starts at $1.63 million this season and could wind up worth more than $9 million. Although, there’s been no official announcement on Kurucs, Sportando, the European hoops site, reported Thursday morning that the Nets and Kurucs had agreed to an only slightly less lucrative four-year deal, worth about $7 million. Barcelona will be paid $750,000 to settle his contract issues, according to Sportando.
Despite the buyout news, neither Musa nor Kurucs is expected to play in Friday’s Summer League finale vs. Indiana.
For Musa, a native of Bosnia, the timing of the deal was bittersweet. In a tweet, the 19-year-old expressed his excitement on joining the Nets.
First NBA contract signed today!!!! Excited, thankful and happy to be part of the Brooklyn Nets!!! pic.twitter.com/bMzd3Ohk7u
— Dzanan Musa (@DzananM13) July 12, 2018
Then, in comments to Radio Sarajevo in Bosnia, Musa made it clear that his happiness was tempered by the fact that his NBA moment came as his countrymen commemorated the 23rd anniversary of the Srebrenica Massacre. Serbian troops killed 8,000 men and boys in the Bosnian city, the worst European atrocity since World War II.
Bosnian @DzananM13 signed his Nets contract on 23rd anniversary of massacre of 8000 men and boys at Srebrenica.
— NetsDaily.com (@NetsDaily) July 12, 2018
He told Radio Sarajevo “As much as I am happy for everything, part of me does not allow me to show emotions. These people are a part of all of us.”
Love this kid.
More from @DzananM13 on Radio Sarajevo: “I’m thinking all day about the irony that I’m signing my first NBA contract on this day.
— NetsDaily.com (@NetsDaily) July 12, 2018
“I sympathize with my Bosnia and Herzegovina and I do not plan to celebrate this day, because of Srebrenica and the tragedy that struck my people.”
Musa’s agent is Jeff Schwartz who previously represented Deron Williams, Paul Pierce and Jason Kidd.
Meanwhile, Nets stash Aleksandar Vezenkov, who (barely) played with Kurucs at F.C. Barcelona last season, has signed a two-year deal with Olympiacos of the Greek League ... presumably with an NBA “out,”
Sasha Vezenkov to Olympiacos is official. Another young, productive player to go with Williams-Goss and LeDay. Vezenkov was in a weird situation last year at Barca and Alonso never played him. But the year before, he killed it offensively (68.7% 2s, 40.5% 3s, 84.5% FTs in EL+ACB) https://t.co/BM9q816BSs
— Austin Green (@LosCrossovers) July 12, 2018
Barcelona played both Vezenkov and Kurucs only intermittently last season, choosing to develop their own prospects rather than two players with NBA ambitions. Kurucs has noted that the two would often hang out together in the Spanish city.
The Nets other stash, Juan Pablo Vaulet, arrived back in Argentina Wednesday, having not played in the Las Vegas Summer League because of a recurring foot injury.
Nets stash @juampiiivaulet on why he couldn’t play in Summer League: "I tried but could not, I still have bone edema, like an inflammation in the bone. It hurts, I'll have to stop and recover well.”
— NetsDaily.com (@NetsDaily) July 12, 2018
Vaulet drafted by the Nets in 2015 has had multiple foot surgeries
The Nets, trying to retain as much cap space as possible, have not yet signed Ed Davis, the 6’10” center, or re-signed Joe Harris.
- BROOKLYN NETS SIGN DZANAN MUSA - Brooklyn Nets
- Dzanan Musa signs four-year deal with Nets - Greg Logan - Newsday