By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
With Gal Mekel signing a three years deal in Dallas, the future of Nick Calathes with the Mavericks seemed at least uncertain. However, now his rights were traded to Memphis and the story is getting a lot more interesting.
Nick Calathes has an extension offer waiting for him with his current team, Eurocup winners Lokomotiv Kuban. There have been reports of him thinking about leaving Russia, but that doesn’t mean Kuban’s proposal isn’t attractive.
If the Grizzlies want to get him for next season, they have to give him a decent contract and not just the minimum, despite the fact their salary cap is already loaded. Of course, Memphis is interested on him – stating the obvious here – but they would have to pay a 500.000 USD buy out and also offer him at least a long term deal in order to lure him back in the States.
And there is one more question about Calathes concerning the upcoming Eurobasket. He is among the players called in Greek national team’s training camp which started on Monday. Calathes asked from the Greek federation to permit him to join later the team. No straight answer was given by the federation to his demand, but time works against him. If his professional future isn’t clear in the next days in order for him to travel to Greece as soon as possible, then he will not be admitted in the team.