July 13, 2016
Over the past few years, there has always been an uncertainty surrounding when exactly Dario Saric would leave Turkey to play for the Sixers. There was the oft-discussed financial incentive for Saric to wait three years and avoid the rookie scale. There was the language barrier in some of the reports coming out of Europe.
But through it all, Saric’s story didn’t change. He maintained that he was making the jump to the NBA after this season. And now that it’s time to make a decision, Saric appears to have kept his word.
This is real. It appears to be lit:
Bryan Colangelo informed Dario Saric's Turkish club that the Sixers are signing him this weekend. €1 million buyout.
— David Pick (@IAmDPick) July 13, 2016
Dario Saric will sign with the Sixers on Friday, according to a source.
— Jessica Camerato (@JCameratoCSN) July 13, 2016
Sixers coach Brett Brown sounded confident about the Saric situation yesterday.
“It’s still too early to be 100 percent certain [of him coming over], but it is that close,” Brown said. “And we feel quite confident in the next few days we’ll be able to make an announcement.”
The deadline to inform Anadolu Efes of Saric’s decision whether or not to take the buyout or not is on Sunday. According to the CBA FAQ, the Sixers can pay up to $650,000 of Saric’s buyout, which means the rest will have to come out of Saric's pocket (which he'll be able to afford with his NBA salary, obviously).
Saric still has a busy summer ahead of him, having lead Croatia to an Olympic berth last week. After scoring 18 points and grabbing 12 rebounds in the clinching win over Italy, he was named MVP of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
Follow Rich on Twitter: @rich_hofmann
