The
Real Madrid
close the circle.
In the absence of knowing what happens to Usman Garuba and his possible inclusion in the 2021 NBA Draft, the squad that will be launched in the 2021/22 season has been well woven.
Vincent Poirier is already in the team, Thomas Heurtel and Pierriá Henry already have agreements to sign from July and there is, a priori, a last gap in the planning.
Gabriel Deck's
departure
to the NBA is what leaves a last option to go to the market and bet big, since the economic investment will have nothing to do with that of this season.
The sports department has a name on its agenda that, since this past Monday, has been underlined in red.
It is
Nikola Kalinic, a 29-year-old Serbian forward who is playing this season for Valencia Basket
.
This is how
AS
can corroborate it
: it is an aspiration for the summer, they have followed the track these years and it marries what they want.
But it is not only that that counts, there is a very important derivative.
Kalinic's contract with the L'Alquería club is obsolete if he does not play the Euroleague, something that for 2021/22 he will only be able to do with an invitation given that the sports route has been exhausted when he is in ninth place.
The doubts about Monaco, with a position already won thanks to the EuroCup, and the good course of Valencia Basket as an institution are what can save them this situation
.
Kalinic would have to save the
right of first refusal
, as happened to Alberto Abalde last season, but again this contract comes into play with the Euroleague variant.
Madrid could be allowed to sign, if this option does not come out, to an extra-community
.
Henry's
passport
with the Cotonou Agreement will be valid once he plays for Senegal and
Thompkins
will be the only one extra in a CBA that allows two per squad.
An American player, for example, could complete the
Laso's
frontcourt
for next year with Jeffery Taylor, Rudy Fernández and the aforementioned Abalde.
This operation, unlike those of Henry, Poirier and even Heurtel, will have to be simmered until summer
.