The Cleveland Cavaliers have made their first free agency addition of the summer, 26 days into free agency. They’ve signed 6’8” Croatian forward, Mario Hezonja, to a one-year minimum contract worth $2.8 million, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Hezonja was the fifth overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft for the Orlando Magic. He played in the league for five seasons. Three with the Magic, and then two one-year stints with the New York Knicks and Portland Trail Blazers. After the 2019-20 season, Hezonja returned to playing professionally overseas. During his five-year NBA career, he averaged 6.9 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game on .417/.319/.812 shooting splits.
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Hezonja has spent the last six years playing in Europe. The last four of those years, he’s played for Real Madrid in Spain.
European leagues are often split into two parts of the season: national league play and EuroLeague. Hezonja was phenomenal in Liga Endesa — the top league in Spain — competition this past year. In that setting, he averaged 17.5 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game on .465/.366/.902 shooting splits in 23.9 minutes per game. That was good enough to earn him MVP honors in that league.
The numbers in EuroLeague — the top basketball league in Europe — weren’t as impressive. In 38 games, Hezonja averaged 13.2 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 2.2 assists on .427/.302/.818 shooting splits.
As the numbers suggest, the 31-year-old wing’s best skill is his outside shooting. He’s a movement shooter with size who can be a real asset when those looks are falling.
That pairs nicely with a pretty solid overall scoring package. Hezonja has the size and strength to get inside and finish in the paint — especially if you cheat over to prevent the outside shot. This all led to Hezonja being in the 89th percentile for offensive impact in EuroLeague last season.
Defense isn’t Hezonja’s calling card. He’s not known for being great on that end despite having good size.
Overall, this is a worthwhile gamble for the Cavs. Taking a minimum-contract gamble on a player with good size, solid offensive feel, who has a lethal outside shot is understandable. Hezonja has the skills to be an impactful offensive piece off the bench and is the exact type of player you’d like to pair with a large front court and dynamic backcourt.
That said, there’s a real chance that this move doesn’t pan out. After all, most minimum contract signings don’t move the needle on contending teams.
This was the first of what could be several roster moves in the upcoming week now that the LeBron James sweepstakes is over. The Cavs still need to re-sign James Harden, there’s the possibility that they execute a sign-and-trade for Jonathan Kuminga, and there’s rumors of other trades they could be looking to make. We’ll see how the Cavs handle the second part of the off-season.
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