The NBA has four Argentines in its orbit, although only two Their contracts are guaranteed for the 2021/22 season: Facundo Campazzo, of the Denver Nuggets, and Leandro Bolmaro, of the Minnesota Timberwolves. While the others, Gabriel Deck (from Oklahoma City Thunder) and Luca Vildoza (from New York Knicks) did not.
This means that in the case of the last two, the franchises could cut them without major problems in case they do not consider them as useful enough. And in that duo, while the man from Santiago seems to be stepping on firmer ground, Mar del Plata is much more complicated.
Is that Vildoza came to the United States after the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games willing to earn his place in the squad of the Big Apple team but his situation quickly darkened.
Barely disputed near 13 minutes on the Summer league in the NBA: they were 8m25 in the first game, against the Toronto Raptors (no points on three pitches, with 3 assists and 1 rebound) and 4m25 in the second, against the Indiana Pacers (no points in one attempt, with 1 rebound and 1 Stole). It was in that second meeting that he came out in pain. And he did not come back.
The team played another four games in Las Vegas but the Argentine no longer had minutes. The reason? That ailment that barely let him play against Indianapolis was due to the presence of fluid on the back of the right foot. In the franchise they determined that the player should rest and do a local treatment, so his absence in the rest of the Summer League not surprising.
Vildoza in action against Australia, in the last Olympic Games. Photo Pool via REUTERS / Gregory Shamus
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Vildoza had been in trouble for several weeks and one can even talk about months: already in February, according to your representative Claudio Villanueva, had been suffering from pain in his foot, although he made efforts to play both in Baskonia, where he finished last season (he had been champion and MVP of the Spanish league finals in 2020) and in the Argentine National Team, with which he played the Olympic competition.
The agent confirmed in dialogue with UcU Radio that the player underwent a treatment in Madrid consisting of the plasma and shock wave application. “The team is waiting for him, but I am a little concerned about the issue of the injury and how it ends. (…) If you start thinking cold now, I shouldn’t have played the Olympics or having gone to play in the Summer League, but sometimes the player close your eyes and think he’s a super man that he will be able to do everything, “the businessman acknowledged at the time.
Time trial
The franchise has 14 covered places and regulations can have up to 15, so the point guard would be right now in the process of earning that gap.
But of course, the injury it is preventing you from working normally and logically places you in a disadvantageous position with respect to the other four basketball players who are fighting these days for the available place: Dwayne Bacon, 26-year-old perimeter; Wayne Selden Jr., 26-year-old forward; Aamir Simms, power forward or power forward of 22; and MJ Walker, escort of 23.
Even the team coach, Tom Thibodeau, recognized that the Argentine is currently using a boot on the right foot, which speaks clearly of the extreme situation, because this way, it will be very difficult for him to be able to show himself at the training campus that began on Tuesday of this week.
Luca Vildoza, player for the New York Knicks and the Argentine basketball team. Photo @LucaVildoza
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Beyond Vildoza having contract for three seasons With the Knicks, the link is not guaranteed and until October 21 the franchise could get rid of Luca without having to pay him not a dollar of the almost around 13 for which he signed (if he reaches that date at least he will secure the u $ s 3,320,930 that correspond to him for the coming campaign).
Every day that passes and he is out of the team conspires against his chances of staying on the squad. The hope, if anything, will be that the Knicks bet on him despite your problem or that, in the worst case, some other team wants to sign it in the rest of the season. The last chance would be turn back to Europe, although there his rights are tied to Baskonia, so he should play for that club or find one that pays the Basques.
Vildoza’s dream, anyway, is still in the NBA, although his permanence in the Knicks is increasingly complicated.
