Former No. 5 overall pick Mario Hezonja is on his way back to the association.
The Croatian forward, who played a starring role at Real Madrid over the last four seasons, has reportedly “decided to return to the NBA.” According to Stefan Acevski of Eurohoops, Hezonja has chosen to exercise an NBA opt-out clause in his contract that was set to expire on July 20.
The 31-year-old’s NBA buyout is believed to be the standard $850,000. It remains unclear which NBA team Hezonja is joining.
🚨 BREAKING: Mario Hezonja reportedly informed Real Madrid that he is leaving the club to RETURN to the NBA 🔥👀 pic.twitter.com/jxRnGASBWN
— Eurohoops (@Eurohoopsnet) July 20, 2026
Hezonja was drafted by the Orlando Magic in 2015 but did not even get to finish out his rookie contract with the team. After three middling seasons with the Magic, Hezonja had one-year stints with the New York Knicks and the Portland Trail Blazers before moving back to Europe.
Hezonja’s most memorable NBA moment was arguably when he put Giannis Antetokounmpo on a poster and disrespected him afterwards. But his numbers never matched his raw potential, averaging 6.1 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.3 assists over five NBA seasons.
After six years of maturing both on and off the court, the NBA may be getting a different version of Hezonja than the one who last played in 2020. With his 6’9″ frame and decent outside stroke, playoff teams could do much worse than Hezonja when filling up the rest of their bench.
