While the entire NBA world continues to reverberate with the news that Russell Westbrook is now a member of the Houston Rockets, the Denver Nuggets added another player to their team on Saturday.
According to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando, the Nuggets will sign Slovenian star Vlatko Cancar. The 22-year-old forward was drafted by the Nuggets in the second round (49th overall) of the 2017 NBA Draft.
The Denver Nuggets are expected to sign Slovenian prospect Vlatko Cancar, a source told @Sportando.
Cancar was selected by Denver with the 49th overall pick of the NBA Draft— Emiliano Carchia (@Carchia) July 13, 2019
The Nuggets seem to have made the decision to sign Cancar after his Summer League outing. In three Summer League games so far, Cancar has averaged 9.7 points and 4.0 rebounds.
Sounds like the Denver Nuggets are going to give one of their two open roster spots to Vlatko Cancar. Denver originally drafted the 22-year old forward in the second round of the 2017 NBA Draft. Cancar has played in the last two Summer Leagues for Denver and has looked solid.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) July 13, 2019
Cancar had been playing in Spain’s Liga ACB league for San Pablo Burgos and put together a fairly strong second season with the club with 10.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game.
Though the 6-foot-6 wing only shot 33.3 percent from deep last season, he is an exceptional free throw shooter at 84.7 percent for his Liga ACB career — which indicates he could thrive from beyond the arc at the NBA 3-point line.
Famously, the Nuggets had tremendous success in the second round by nabbing Nikola Jokic at No.41 overall in the 2014 NBA Draft. Jokic has blossomed into a First Team All-NBA center and the anchor of an up-and-coming Denver squad.
For the first time since the 2012-13 season, the Nuggets made the playoffs last year. Furthermore, they actually won a series for the first time since the 2008-09 campaign. Cancar will shore up the team’s wing rotation, but he will likely be an end-of-bench guy in the upcoming season.