{"id":813186,"date":"2026-07-20T23:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T23:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/813186\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T23:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T23:28:12","slug":"mario-hezonja-reportedly-leaves-real-madrid-for-nba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/813186\/","title":{"rendered":"Mario Hezonja reportedly leaves Real Madrid for NBA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Mario Hezonja has reportedly exercised his NBA out clause to leave Real Madrid and return to the league after a standout EuroLeague season.<\/p>\n<p>EuroLeague star <a href=\"https:\/\/basketnews.com\/players\/9225-mario-hezonja.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mario Hezonja<\/a> has informed Real Madrid that he is leaving for the NBA, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/chemadelucas\/status\/2079287357501579628\" rel=\"nofollow\">Chema de Lucas<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>        <a class=\"article-widget__photo\" href=\"https:\/\/basketnews.com\/players\/9225-mario-hezonja.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-421262-plsm.jpg\" alt=\"Mario  Hezonja\"\/><br \/>\n        <\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n                Position<br \/>\n                SF\n            <\/p>\n<p>\n                Age<br \/>\n                31\n            <\/p>\n<p>\n                Height<br \/>\n                206 cm\n            <\/p>\n<p>\n                Weight<br \/>\n                110 kg\n            <\/p>\n<p>\n                Birth place<br \/>\n                Dubrovnik, Croatia\n            <\/p>\n<p>As previously reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/basketnews.com\/news-251436-mario-hezonja-making-strong-push-for-nba-comeback-ahead-of-opt-out-deadline.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews<\/a>, although Hezonja was under contract with Real Madrid through 2029, the long-term agreement included an exit clause allowing him to return to the NBA.<\/p>\n<p>The clause was valid until July 20, and the Croatian forward informed the club of his intention to activate it.<\/p>\n<p>His NBA buyout is understood to be around the standard $850,000 mark.<\/p>\n<p>NBA teams have been attracted not only by Hezonja&#8217;s basketball ability and positional size, but also by the improved feedback surrounding his maturity away from the court.<\/p>\n<p>That combination has made him an appealing option for franchises searching for an experienced and reliable wing.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-473945-any780x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Credit Alamy\/Scanpix<\/p>\n<p> Hezonja leaves after impressive EuroLeague campaign <\/p>\n<p>Hezonja is coming off an excellent EuroLeague season in which he played a central role in Real Madrid&#8217;s run to the championship game.<\/p>\n<p>He averaged 13.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 2.4 assists in 23 minutes per game and produced some of his best performances at the Final Four.<\/p>\n<p>The Croatian forward dominated the semifinal matchup against Valencia, erupting for 25 points on 8-of-14 shooting. He added 7 rebounds and 3 assists flawlessly, committing zero turnovers in 31 minutes to post a massive 33 PIR.<\/p>\n<p>He followed that up with another two-way performance in the title thriller against eventual champions Olympiacos, stuffing the stat sheet across the board with 19 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, and a 24 PIR.<\/p>\n<p>Selected with the 5th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, Hezonja previously appeared in 330 NBA games across stints with the Orlando Magic, New York Knicks, and Portland Trail Blazers.<\/p>\n<p>During his first NBA tenure, he posted averages of 6.9 points and 3.1 rebounds in 18.5 minutes per contest.<\/p>\n<p>                                                    <a href=\"https:\/\/basketnews.com\/plus?utm_source=basketnews_com&amp;utm_medium=bn_plus&amp;utm_id=UA-259273-31&amp;utm_campaign=banners_free_content_for_not_members_bottom_4\" class=\"banners_paid_content_info_block_white banners-paid-content-info-block-white\" data-google-interstitial=\"false\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>                                                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"bn-plus-img img-fluid\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/bn-plus.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                                            Like what we are doing? 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It helps us a lot, and we are committed to delivering you the very latest basketball news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mario Hezonja has reportedly exercised his NBA out clause to leave Real Madrid and return to the league&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":813187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-813186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=813186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/813187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=813186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=813186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=813186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}