Washington Wizards Bust Jan Vesely Reportedly Offered Large NBA Contract
By Ben Mehic
Washington Wizards Bust Reportedly Offered Large NBA Deal
Remember Jan Vesely — the dude the Washington Wizards picked sixth overall in 2011 ahead of Kawhi Leonard and Klay Thompson? No? Let me refresh your memory. Vesely — Airwolf — the guy who made less than 41 percent of his free throws. Still nothing? Vesely — the guy the Wizards traded to the Denver Nuggets for an ancient Andre Miller.
It’s a repressed memory.
We all like to pretend the Wizards didn’t blow a lottery pick on a comically bad player from a country we’re not even sure exists. I mean, the only thing they could’ve possibly done to make it worse was draft his friend. They did that too.
Vesely was a very bad NBA player, but he’s had a ton of success with Fenerbache Ulker in the Euroleague. Vesely is able to out-athletic the players overseas and he’s pretty dominant as a result. Vesely is putting up roughly 13 points and seven rebounds per game on over 60 percent shooting from the field.
Given his success overseas, we’ll probably see an NBA team reach out to Vesely soon.
According to a report, though, that call has already been made…for a substantial amount of money:
"Mahmut Uslu gave an interview for “Fenerbahce TV” where, among other things, he talked about the offer that arrived for the Czech center “There is an offer for Jan Vesely from an NBA team. It is around 7 – 8 million euros”, said the general secretary of the club, while adding “We want to keep this kind of players in the team”"
If that number is accurate, Vesely got an offer worth about $9 million from an NBA deal. As the folks over at HoopsRumors speculated, that offer probably came in the summer — not during the season.
We can continue to speculate.
How many years was the deal worth? Was it three, which would make it about $3 million per season? Which team offered him the deal? Was it the Brooklyn Nets or did Ernie Grunfeld‘s ghost possess the San Antonio Spurs? It’s all speculation.
Airwolf will be back on the NBA hardwood soon. He’s going to become a free agent in the summer, and while he probably will re-up with Fenerbache, there’s also a solid chance that a few NBA teams reach out to his agent.
Even though Vesely is undoubtedly one of the biggest busts in the league’s history, he’s still somewhat of an interesting prospect. The 25-year-old, 7-footer is ridiculously athletic. Nowadays, teams look for players that can run the floor and defend multiple positions. Vesely is capable of doing both of those things.
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It’ll be interesting to see if Vesely ever rocks an NBA jersey again, but I’d bet on it happening. When it does happen, we’ll all cringe at the thought of him airballing free throws while Klay Thompson raises championship trophies.