Golden State suffered quite a few departures this summer, but one of them was a very unpleasant surprise. The player in question spoke on the subject recently, with a big message for Californians. It is without language of wood and of a foolproof honesty.
It was to be expected since we are talking about the defending champion, but the Warriors lost a lot of people in the 2022 offseason. If players like Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins are still around (for now at least ), several members of the bench have set sail, sailing towards other horizons. Juan Toscano-Anderson, Gary Payton II, Otto Porter Jr.: so many valuable players in Steve Kerr’s roster, but who will now be his opponents.
However, among the many departures from the Dubs, one player in particular has made the choice to leave the United States. Nemanja Bjelica has indeed decided to return to Europe, signing a contract with Fenerbahçe Istanbul. The 33-year-old may have last been seen in the NBA in the 2021-22 fiscal year… Still, it looks like the Serbian left San Francisco on good terms with the franchise, judging per his recent post on social media:
Nemanja Bjelica grateful to Warriors
Thank you to the Warriors, the 2022 NBA champions. Thank you to the best fans there are, and to everyone who has supported and pushed us through the season until the very end, thank you. Thank you to this incredible organization who believed in me and allowed me to be part of this group of legendary players, my friends. To all of you, for this unforgettable experience to close my NBA chapter, thank you. I will always remember this season, these fans and the Bay. Always a warrior, thank you.
The bet of the veteran has in any case paid off, he who had landed in Golden State last summer in the hope of winning a title after an unsuccessful freelance at the Heat. If he has never started in Kerr’s rotation, he has however proven that he can be very valuable off the bench with six points, four rebounds and two assists on average during the regular season. He was particularly close to Draymond Green who openly regretted his departure.
However, he probably felt the tide turn in the playoffs, where his role drastically diminished. In particular, he went from 16 minutes per match to barely ten, proof that his coaching staff counted less on him in hot moments. It doesn’t matter though since he ended up with the ring on his finger, which was his goal in the big league. He will now be able to spend his last years in Europe, where it all began for him.
We will a priori no longer see Nemanja Bjelica in the NBA, since he is back on the Old Continent. However, he had a good end to his career across the Atlantic with the Warriors, and we therefore fully understand his beautiful message to the Dubs.