A few days ago Aleksej Pokusevski, the 17th overall pick in the 2020 Draft, has been cut by the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Serbian youngster seemed to have a good chance to return to Europe, where he played a couple of seasons with Olympiacos as a very young man, also picking up 3 games in the EuroLeague.
Instead, as reported by Adrian Wojnarowski, Pokusevski will get another chance in the NBA: will sign with the Charlotte Hornets a contract whose details are not yet known. The player is in his fourth season in the league, so far all spent with the Thunder. However, physical problems have limited the growth of Pokusevski, who has played only 150 games in these four seasons, scoring 7.5 points on average.
The Charlotte Hornets are expected to sign F Aleksej Pokusevski, sources tell ESPN. The Oklahoma City Thunder waived him this week. Pokusevski was the 17th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.
– Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 27, 2024
Last summer Aleksej Pokusevski had missed the World Cup with Serbia due to yet another injury, and in this regular season he has collected only 10 appearances, among other things with an average of just 6′ minutes. Only 4 games between December and February. The Hornets, third-last in the East with a record of 15-42, can afford to experiment at least until the end of the season: just in Charlotte another former OKC, as well as Serbian, viz. Vasilije Micic is finding more space (12′ to 22′ average), improving all his figures and scoring 9.7 points on average with 6.0 assists by backup LaMelo Ball.