By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Olympiacos center Nikola Milutinov is becoming a free agent in the upcoming offseason. The San Antonio Spurs could be an option for the Serbian big man if Gregg Popovich’s team decides to bring him on board.
For Maccabi Tel Aviv coach and former coach of Milutinov on Olympiacos Giannis Sfairopoulos, there’s no doubt that the player is NBA ready.
“I think that he’s improved himself so much that it’s a question why he’s not in the NBA. I think that you can’t easily find big guys of his height who are so skilled. Who can pass, who can shoot, who can post, who can handle the ball really well. Rebounding. I think he can play in the NBA or in the top level of EuroLeague. I think now, it’s up to him to decide. For me, he’s an NBA player,” Sfairopoulos said in an interview with Serbian website Nova.
Milutinov joined Olympiacos in 2015 when he was 20 years old and not long after the Spurs selected him with the 26th overall pick in the NBA Draft. He played under Sfairopoulos until 2018 when the latter parted ways with the Greek powerhouse.
“To tell you the truth, when we signed Milutinov on Olympiacos, I was criticized a lot because he was very young, very fragile and maybe not ready to participate in EuroLeague for the majority of the fans or journalists,” Sfairopoulos said. “But I knew he was really talented and a really remarkable player. A player who can be top-level in EuroLeague and an NBA player. We worked with him a lot, not only me but also the assistant coaches and everybody in the organization of Olympiacos. He’s a great kid, a great worker and a great personality.”