Mario Hezonja Is Returning To The NBA After Six Years In Europe
Mario Hezonja is Mario Hezonja is coming back to the NBA. The Cleveland Cavaliers agreed to a one-year, $2.8 million deal with the 31-year-old Croatian forward on Sunday, bringing back the former fifth overall pick in the 2015 draft who has been playing in Europe since 2020 and has been one of the best players in the EuroLeague for the past four years.
Hezonja spent his last four European seasons at Real Madrid, where he won the EuroLeague championship in 2024 and was named the ACB Liga MVP for the 2025-26 season after averaging 17.5 points and 4.9 rebounds.
The Golden State Warriors were also pursuing him, but Cleveland won the recruitment, and Hezonja joins an Eastern Conference finalist that is building around Donovan Mitchell's new four-year extension.
His NBA career, three seasons in Orlando, one with the Knicks, one with the Trail Blazers, never lived up to lottery pick billing. He averaged a career-high 10.7 points in his final NBA season with Portland before being waived.
Europe gave him what the NBA hadn't: time to develop, a role that fit and coaches who built around his strengths. He returns at 31 with a game that scouts say is considerably more polished than the one that left.
At 6-foot-9, he gives the Cavaliers wing size, perimeter shooting and EuroLeague-caliber offensive creation. Cleveland needed exactly that. back to the NBA.
