Mario

Hezonja

A first-round pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, Hezonja has spent the last two seasons with Real Madrid after stints with the Magic, Knicks, and Trail Blazers. This past season, he averaged 13.5 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, shooting a little over 43% from three. Hezonja last played in the NBA in 2020, but based on Stein’s recent report, there’s a chance he could return to the league for the 2024-25 campaign. Whether or not he’ll have fantasy relevance will depend on who Hezonja signs with if he returns to the NBA.

Hezonja hasn’t suited up for Croatia since an Olympics quarterfinal matchup in 2016. He played for the Greek team Panathinaikos in the EuroLeague this season, where he averaged 14.4 points in 22.8 minutes per game. He’s 26 years old and a return to the NBA is conceivable, though his days of fantasy relevance are behind him.

He didn’t even join the team at camp so there are no surprises here. Marko Guduric is also likely to be waived. Shams Charania of The Athletic is reporting that Hezonja will have multiple suitors after training camp but it’s hard to imagine him surfacing as a fantasy-relevant player.

He’s not even expected to join the team at camp, which is pretty telling. Marko Guduric is in the same boat, but that’s not a surprise. Hezonja’s future in the NBA is looking pretty bleak.

Hezonja will add some depth to the small forward position in Memphis, but it’s unlikely he’ll start or earn enough playing time to impact fantasy hoops.

This was a no-brainer for a player that has struggled at the NBA level. Hezonja averaged just 16.4 minutes per game last season, shooting 42% from the field and 30% from deep with 4.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 0.5 triples. He’ll be fighting for an end-of-rotation spot during training camp.

He’s been in the rotation but hasn’t found consistent success this season, his first with the Blazers, so this was a welcome sight. Hezonja has scored double-digit points in consecutive games just twice all year, and he hasn’t done it since January, so this isn’t a performance worth chasing.

Hezonja had a forgettable first scrimmage and the offense wasn’t clicking today, but coach Terry Stotts was still complimentary. “The encouraging thing is he’s shooting the ball well [in practice], shooting with confidence,” Stotts said on Thursday. “And with the [second-unit] guys he’s going to be out there with, that’s going to be important.” Hezonja is battling guys like Anfernee Simons and Nassir Little for a spot at the end of Portland’s rotation, and there’s no fantasy appeal while the top of the lineup is healthy.

Instead, Ariza will use a one-month visitation period granted by the mother of his son to spend time with the 12-year-old as the parents work through a custody case. With Rodney Hood also done with an Achilles injury, Mario Hezonja, and especially Gary Trent, will really have to step up and are probably going to be value plays in DFS, at least initially. And the loss of Ariza’s versatility and defense is a big blow to the Blazers.

After Monday’s game, coach Terry Stotts was unstinting in his praise. “Mario Hezonja played an excellent game — both halves,” Stotts said. “With C.J. McCollum out, he became more of playmaker, a facilitator ... for us to be competitive, that is going to be important for us.” That probably wasn’t mere lip-service, but Hezonja’s playmaking won’t be prominent while Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum are both healthy -- the Blazers still love to stagger them.