By Nikola Miloradovic/ info@eurohoops.net
Forward Nikola Jovic agreed to a four-year, $62.4 million rookie contract extension with the Miami Heat, agents Jeff Schwartz, Sean Kennedy, and Jared Mucha of Excel Sports Management confirmed to ESPN.
The Serb forward gets a fully guaranteed deal with the Heat, who selected him with the No. 27 pick in the 2022 NBA draft.
He averaged a career-high 10.7 points last season, but he played only 46 games after breaking a bone in his right hand in February. He returned in time for the playoffs and also competed in the recent Eurobasket with the Serbian national team.
The 22-year-old forward is poised to be one of the key members of Miami and also of his national team in the near future.
“He’s becoming more mature, more professional,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said earlier this week at media day, when asked about Jovic and how his time with the Serbian team has helped in recent summers. “And if you’re hanging out with players much older than you, it just naturally happens. I’ve seen growth from him over three years because of that standard that they’ve had in that program.”