By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
As it’s officially announced, CSKA Moscow and Mike James’ agents finalized the talks which will permit the 30 years old guard to join the Nets with a contract until the end of the season.
According to the press release of CSKA: “Our club and guard Mike James have come to an agreement that will allow the player to become a free agent until the end of the 2020-21 season”. The Brooklyn Nets are not yet mentioned, but multiple sources, including those of Eurohoops, confirm the deal.
James is one of the highest-paid players in Europe, having signed last summer a three-year deal with the Russian club that in theory would keep him in Moscow until the summer of 2023. However, James was suspended indefinitely by CSKA Moscow in late March following an incident with team head coach Dimitris Itoudis and has headed back to his native United States.
The club was willing to accommodate the player and release him in what was described as “a mutually beneficial agreement” by club president Andrey Vatutin.
In order to sign with the Nets, according to the FIBA-NBA agreement, James is released. However, according to Eurohoops sources, he should be still considered a CSKA player after the end of the 2020-21 season until the summer of 2023. Of course, after the end of the season and depending on the offers he may get in the future, especially from the NBA, every scenario is open for his future.
James was having his best season yet in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, being the favorite to win the MVP race prior to his suspension. James was averaging a then-competition-high 19.3 points, along with 5.7 assists and 3.1 rebounds in 31:10 minutes in EuroLeague.
He last played in the NBA in 2017-2018, averaging 9.3 points, 3.5 assists, and 2.5 rebounds in 19.1 minutes over 36 games, 32 with the Phoenix Suns and four with the New Orleans Pelicans. Since then and during his return to Europe, he won EuroLeague’s “Alphonso Ford Top Scorer Trophy” in 2019 as a player of Olimpia Milano.