Brooklyn Nets rumors: Rodions Kurucs buyout done, signing 4-year deal

The latest Brooklyn Nets rumors come from across the Atlantic, with a European site reporting that the Nets have completed the buyout to sign second-round pick Rodions Kurucs.

Rodions Kurucs has been officially bought out from FC Barcelona, according to the latest Brooklyn Nets rumors, and is preparing to sign a four-year, $1.7 million deal with the Nets.

According to European basketball website Sportando, the Nets will pay $750,000 to FC Barcelona for the rights to Kurucs and then sign the 40th overall pick in last month’s NBA Draft to a long-term deal, a rarity for a second-round pick.

But Kurucs isn’t an ordinary second-round pick it seems. He was being talked about as a potential first-round selection when he entered the 2017 NBA Draft, but withdrew and re-entered the draft this year.

There were reports in 2017 that several teams were interested in Kurucs as a first-round pick, with Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders reporting in a 2017 mock draft:

"An interesting tidbit of information I got during the last week: The Nets are “sold” on Latvian Rodions Kurucs, who has joined Frank Ntilikina as the foreign prospect who’s been watched most. Heading into the draft process, Kurucs was thought to have a shot to slip to the Nets at No. 22, but I am hearing he could go as early as No. 15 to Portland."

So Brooklyn was on Kurucs a year ago and it makes sense that general manager Sean Marks would have been interested upon the Latvian’s re-entry into the process in 2018.

Kurucs spent much of his time last season with Barcelona’s development team while at the same time, his Barcelona teammate, Nets’ 2017 draft-and-stash pick Aleksandar Vezenkov, was collecting cobwebs on the end of the Barca bench.

According to Nets Daily, Barcelona coach Svetislav Pesic explained that he was looking out for his club, not the NBA:

"Barcelona basketball is a section of FC Barcelona, but not a section of the NBA. For example, you put your chips on Mario Hezonja, but everyone knew that Hezonja was going to use Barca to go to the NBA."

The demotion of Kurucs and the benching of Vezenkov dated back to before Pesic was hired by Barcelona and the club was coached by Sito Alonso, according to Brian Lewis of the New York Post.

Kurucs played in just 10 games with the top club last season in the Euroleague and Spanish ACB campaigns, spending the rest of his time with FC Barcelona’s second-division affiliate. Between that and a reported $4 million buyout figure, Kurucs’ draft stock may have taken a hit.

Kurucs was non-committal about whether Barcelona’s tactics tanked his draft position when asked about it during his introductory press conference with the Nets last month.

"Maybe. Who knows? I was in a situation. I can’t say anything about Coach Sito. I like him like a person, like a coach. He’s a great coach. He gave me some opportunities, too, in some games. I appreciate that. I used my chances and I was waiting for my moment. Maybe there is a little bit difference where I landed, but I’m happy I’m here."

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In six games in domestic league play in Spain’s top division, Kurucs appeared in six games, but averaged just 2.3 points in 7.2 minutes per contest. He played even less in Euroleague, averaging 4.0 minutes per game.

Playing in Spain’s LEB Gold with the Barcelona II club, Kurucs appeared in 16 games and put up 10.7 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 20.8 minutes per game on .445/.333/.769 shooting.

Kurucs also played with Latvia’s national team in European qualifying play for the 2019 FIBA World Cup, making three appearances in their six games in group play, but averaging just 2.8 minutes a game.

Kurucs skipped Latvia’s two most recent games, an 82-72 win over Sweden on June 28 and a 93-71 victory over Ukraine on July 1, while preparing for the Las Vegas Summer League.

Next: Nets 15 best draft picks of all-time

He hasn’t been able to suit up in Vegas while waiting for the buyout to get done, and there is no word as of this writing whether he will play in Brooklyn’s Summer League finale against the Indiana Pacers on Friday.

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Brooklyn Nets rumors: Rodions Kurucs buyout done, signing 4-year, $1.7M deal

By Phil Watson | Jul 12, 2018

The latest Brooklyn Nets rumors come from across the Atlantic, with a European site reporting that the Nets have completed the buyout to sign second-round pick Rodions Kurucs.

More from Nothin' But Nets