Report: Raptors RFA Nando de Colo agrees to deal with Fenerbahce

cska-moscow-guard-nando-de-colo

CSKA Moscow's Nando De Colo, right, drives to the basket as Red Star's Mathias Lessort tries to block him during a EuroLeague basketball match in Belgrade, Serbia back in 2017. (Darko Vojinovic/AP)

Toronto Raptors restricted free agent Nando de Colo has agreed to sign with Turkish EuroLeague club Fenerbahce, Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops.net reports.

De Colo, a legitimate star across European club basketball, played last season with CSKA Moscow where he captured his second career EuroLeague championship.

The 32-year-old has played only 21 games for the Raptors, doing so in the 2013-14 season after Toronto traded for him in February 2014 from the San Antonio Spurs. After that season, De Colo left the NBA to join CSKA Moscow.

However, despite playing in Europe for the past five seasons, De Colo was continually extended a qualifying offer by the Raptors every year, including this year, so the team may maintain his free-agent rights. That means if De Colo were to ever want to make a return to the NBA, he’d enter the league as a restricted free agent and the Raptors would then have the choice to match any offer for him that might come their way.

It was reported in June that De Colo was potentially looking at a return to the NBA, but as Varlas notes in his report, it looks like Fenerbahce managed to convince him to stay in Europe.

Fenerbahce is one of the best teams in Europe, having won its domestic league championship in three of the last four years and making the EuroLeague Final Four for five straight years now (2015-19).

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