Nando De Colo has rejected the Toronto Raptors’ $1.8M qualifying offer and elected to sign a reported two-year, $4.1M deal with CSKA Moscow, according to the Don mega:
Toronto free agent Nando de Colo has turned down Raptors offer and will accept deal with CSKA-Moscow, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 7, 2014
This was largely expected in some form, if not CSKA than somewhere else, and it was possible the Raptors would have rescinded the offer shortly anyway to clear him off the books. The cap implications of the move are explained in the post linked above, as it was already assumed he was gone.
De Colo joined the Raptors at the trade deadline after being acquired from the San Antonio Spurs for Austin Daye (who now has an NBA Championship ring, which is all kinda of unfair). He appeared in 21 games, averaging 3.1 points, 1.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 9.2 minutes. He wasn’t exactly ineffective, but between his inability to know down mid-range jumpers and defend any position, he really didn’t move the needle all that much.
He probably would have caught on somewhere as a third string combo-guard, but it’s unlikely he could have received $4 million guaranteed.
The Frenchman, now 27 years old, will return overseas to play for the Russian powerhouse CSKA Moscow. Before coming over to San Antonio, De Colo spent several seasons with Valencia in Spain and played in the French league prior to that. If you’re really itching to see him again, he’ll be a reserve guard for the French national team at the FIBA World Cup in late August.
Should this be the end of De Colo’s NBA career, he’ll leave having played 119 games, averaging 3.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.7 assists with an 11.8 player efficiency rating. He also appeared in six playoff games, totaling four points, five rebounds and two assists in 18 minutes. Because this franchise is the best, De Colo will leave ranked 140th in minutes as a Raptor with 193. I’m stretching here…this is very, very inconsequential.
