Nando De Colo — one of the EuroLeague’s top guards — is planning a return to the NBA and could command an ample free-agent market. “I have asked my agents to explore NBA opportunities over the coming weeks,” De Colo, 32, told ESPN. “I am excited for the next challenge in my career.”
More on Nando De Colo Free Agency
Dmitry Planidin: De Colo in his exit interview opened up on his decision to leave CSKA Direct quote: "I think I have a chance to change something, find a new challenge, compete at the highest level again" No direct mentions of the NBA but sounds like he will roll the dice.
CSKA Moscow announced that Nando De Colo won’t continue with the team in the next season. De Colo parts ways with the reigning EuroLeague champion as a free agent, after a five-year stint. “I have achieved everything possible with CSKA. Now, I think I have a chance to change something. To find a new challenge and fight again at the highest level,” De Colo said per CSKA’s website.
Emiliano Carchia: Nando De Colo may leave CSKA Moscow after the season to return to the NBA, I am told. De Colo will be free agent from July 1. He has already played two seasons in the NBA with Spurs and Raptors
While speaking to Spanish media outlet Farhampton Magazine, De Colo is not ruling out a potential move back to the NBA. “The truth is that going to San Antonio was a somewhat complicated decision because I knew I could continue in Europe,” De Colo said. “I had contacts with Barcelona, for example. On the other hand, I wanted to go to the NBA and see how it was. In the Spurs, I didn’t have the opportunities I expected. I think that is a part of life that you can’t control.”
Nando De Colo: “I don’t close the door to the NBA, but for the moment I’m happy in Europe and I prefer to concentrate on the present. Afterwards, we’ll see what happens.”
Blake Murphy: Bookkeeping note: I'm told the Raptors have once again extended a qualifying offer to Nando De Colo to retain his RFA rights.
Perhaps it’s a statement that also vindicates De Colo’s decision to sign a new, multi-year contract with the Russian powerhouse and not pursue a possible return to USA. “Well, I had already made my decision so it doesn’t matter. I really wanted to sign again with CSKA Moscow. I feel really great in the team right now. It was important to renew with them because I got all the responsibilities I want in the team. CSKA wants to go until the end every season, to win every single title there is. And this means a lot to me.”
“I am very happy to continue playing for CSKA”, De Colo said in the team’s official website after the renewal of his contract was announced. “It wasn’t a tough decision to take. I came back to Europe to play, to use the opportunities and carry more responsibility day-by-day. This is what I did, what I had here with the club. This year we had an amazing season. And this is what I want: to play, to do it for the best team in Europe and to be one of the leaders of this team. This is what is the most important for me, this is why I signed with CSKA”.
Raptors and Spurs are considering Nando De Colo. Bucks are apparently the team willing to make the biggest offer. The fourth NBA team in the mix for his services could be Denver.
CSKA Moscow is the most succesful club in Europe when they sign the players they want, but De Colo is free agent and there’s no extension of his contract yet. How hard will be to keep the French star in Europe and keep him from returning to the NBA? Vatutin’s answer was honest: “We have said that we will talk with Nando de Colo after the end of the season. He knows how much we want to keep him in Europe and in Moscow and we will do what we must. Beyond that the point is 100% what he thinks and what feels more like a challenge. The answer to this question belongs to the player. He will decide and we will do what we must towards him. However, Nando is a player who wants to enjoy basketball”.
According to Eurohoops sources, the Denver Nuggets are monitoring him for a long time and they are to ready give him the contract and the minutes that he would like to have in order to return to the NBA. De Colo, however is a restricted free agent with his rights belonging to Toronto, so expect the Raptors and probably more NBA teams to enter the picture in his possible return to the States.
He did all this in the present of longtime CSKA Moscow contributor and Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov and when Eurohoops had the chance after the game to speak with CSKA Moscow’s president Andrey Vatutin the question was simple: Over the years, CSKA Moscow is the most succesful club in Europe when they sign the players they want, but De Colo is free agent and there’s no extension of his contract yet. How hard will be to keep the French star in Europe and keep him from returning to the NBA? Andrey Vatutin: “We have said that we will talk with Nando de Colo after the end of the season. He knows how much we want to keep him in Europe and in Moscow and we will do what we must. Beyond that the point is 100% what he thinks and what feels more like a challenge. The answer to this question belongs to the player. He will decide and we will what we must towards him. However, Nando is a player who wants to enjoy basketball”.
Trajan Langdon, who played for CSKA Moscow, reportedly was scouting in Europe last month and may have checked on his old club, which is in the Euroleague’s final four next weekend behind a pair of intriguing 6-foot-5 guards.
Nando De Colo: "For now, I have not forgotten about the NBA. It's still in the back of my mind, but I will not go back just to go back. I have some experience behind me now, I know how it goes. If one day I return to NBA, it will be to have responsibilities, not just say I'm an NBA player. In that case, I prefer to stay in a big team in Europe."
Although he got buried in San Antonio behind his compatriot and Patty Mills, de Colo plans to take another look at the NBA once his deal with CSKA Moscow expires next year. "I will see what happens," he said.
