Mario Hezonja Returns to NBA on One-Year, $2.8M Deal with Cavaliers
The fifth overall pick in 2015 is coming back. Mario Hezonja has agreed to a one-year, $2.8 million contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Shams Charania of ESPN reported, with agent Michael Tellem of Excel Sports Management confirming the deal.
Hezonja spent the last four seasons with Real Madrid, where he won the EuroLeague championship in 2023 and rebuilt a career that had stalled stateside. The Croatian forward had negotiated an NBA exit clause into his Real Madrid contract — available every summer through 2029, with a July 20 cutoff — and BasketNews reported that he fulfilled all conditions to trigger it before this year’s deadline. He rejected conditional offers from three EuroLeague clubs that would have activated only if his NBA return collapsed, betting outright that he could land a roster spot.
That bet paid off. Cleveland emerged as a suitor in recent weeks, with Marc Stein and Jake Fischer both reporting the Cavaliers’ interest. Hezonja was viewed as a fallback option alongside Jonathan Kuminga, depending on how the broader free-agent market shook out — a market that, as one source told The Stein Line, had roughly eight or nine players waiting on LeBron James’s decision before dominoes could fall.
His first NBA stint was underwhelming by lottery-pick standards. Across 330 games with the Orlando Magic, New York Knicks, and Portland Trail Blazers, Hezonja averaged 6.9 points and 3.1 rebounds in 18.5 minutes. His best season came in 2017-18 with Orlando — 9.6 points, 3.7 boards, 33.7% from three on 4.4 attempts — but the Magic declined his fourth-year option, and he bounced to New York on a one-year, $6.5 million deal, then to Portland on a minimum contract. Memphis acquired him in a 2020 three-team trade and waived him before he ever played a game. Career earnings: just under $22 million.
Europe changed the trajectory. At Real Madrid, Hezonja became one of the continent’s most productive forwards, averaging double figures in EuroLeague play and anchoring a frontcourt that captured the 2023 title. He is 31 now — older, more physical, and far more polished than the raw 20-year-old Orlando drafted out of Barcelona.
The Cavaliers get a 6-foot-8 wing with legitimate shooting range and the kind of high-level experience that translates to bench depth. At $2.8 million on a one-year flier, the downside is negligible. If Hezonja can carve out 15-18 minutes as a floor-spacing forward behind Evan Mobley and Dean Wade, the deal becomes one of the quieter value signings of the summer. If he can’t, Cleveland walks away clean.
Hezonja’s NBA return ends a five-year absence. The last time he appeared in an NBA game was March 2020, in a Portland jersey, before the world shut down. He arrives now as something he never was the first time around: a proven winner with something to prove.