Nets Rumors: Brooklyn Interested in Milos Teodosic
By Charles Daye
The Brooklyn Nets are rumored to be interested in Milos Teodosic, the star point guard for CSKA Moscow.
A Serbian newspaper reported that the Brooklyn Nets are interested in Milos Teodosic. The soon-to-be 30-year-old point guard out of Serbia is considered one of the best, if not the best, non-NBA basketball players in the world. NetsDaily even described him as “Europe’s Jason Kidd.”
Teodosic is a Euroleague champion and former Euroleague MVP who is currently averaging a career-high 16.5 points and 7.4 assists for Moscow. For the last two seasons, he has averaged around 15 points per game or better. His best season as far as assists are concerned was 2014-15, when he averaged seven assists.
Teodosic has averaged 11.6 points, 4x.7 assists and 2.5 rebounds in 10 Euroleague seasons. While these stats do not mirror those of a 29-year-old Jason Kidd, plenty of general managers and coaches seem to believe in the floor general of the Red Army. Following his career year in 2016, he was voted the Best Non-NBA Player in the World, which obviously caught the eye of many NBA teams.
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Nikola Jokic played with Teodosic for Serbia over the summer of 2016 and recently told BSN Denver that he “knows” Teodosic wants to play in the NBA. Jokic added, however, “I know he doesn’t want to come off the bench.”
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This raises the question, if the Nets are in fact interested in the Euroleague star, does acquiring Teodosic mean he is your starting point guard? Would Jeremy Lin be bumped to the bench, or would they play both as the new starting backcourt?
Injuries have kept Lin sidelined for most of the 2016-17 season, resulting in very few games fans and Nets management alike got to see and/or analyze the Brook-Lin duo of Brook Lopez and Lin. If the Nets are interested in Teodosic, this could signal the end of Lin as a starting point guard for Brooklyn.
The Nets will have over $30 million in cap space this offseason, and Teodosic currently makes less than a tenth of that annually in Moscow. While it is believed he will want to cash in on his accolades and accomplishments, a big pay day for him would not necessarily mean a max contract. Hypothetically, Brooklyn could pay him around what Lin is making. There would still be cap space left over, and this could justify their positions in the rotation.
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Following the deadline, general manager Sean Marks noted they could potentially consider Euroleague players in the hunt for talent. So this rumored interest in the Euroleague’s best player is not far-fetched, especially after ESPN’s Brian Windhurst proposed they would favor guards in free agency.
Teodosic is known as an excellent play maker, something that is desperately needed in Brooklyn.