MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Mario Hezonja insists that the Orlando Magic’s decision not to exercise their team option on him for the 2018-19 season won’t alter how he approaches his job.
“It’s not going to change anything,” Hezonja said before the Magic beat the Memphis Grizzlies 101-99 Wednesday night at the FedEx Forum. “I’m still going to be working hard on my game, still come in with the same mentality: just trying to get even better.”
The Magic had until 11:59 p.m. Tuesday to pick up their option on the 22-year-old for next season, but the team let the deadline pass.
Because of the team’s decision, Hezonja will become an unrestricted free agent in July, free to sign with any team that wants him and any team where he’ll have a chance to carve out playing time. Hezonja is eager to prove he can be a productive NBA player.
Orlando drafted Hezonja fifth overall in 2015, making him one of the highest-drafted players in NBA history not to have his fourth-year option picked up.
He played in six of the Magic’s first seven games, but his playing time was scarce, earning 12.8 minutes per game. He also struggled to keep a consistent place in the Magic’s rotation the previous two seasons.
“It’s a little bit weird because I wasn’t playing in two years,” Hezonja said. “So it’s a little bit weird to judge the situation. But it was just a difficult position and situation since the beginning. So maybe I did a tiny mistake in my career, but I’ll learn from it, and it’s not going to happen again. I just wish it was judged by playing time, because we would now be talking about a totally different story. But it wasn’t.”
Hezonja said. “I’m here to play and I didn’t come from home to here to watch.”
[uredio hardek - 02. studenog 2017. u 11:48]
