Aris cleared the path for Dimitrijević - now the decision is his own

The Basketball Federation of Macedonia announced that Aris of Thessaloniki has officially confirmed there are no obstacles to Nenad Dimitrijević being available to the national team from 16 August 2026. The federation called it „a significant gesture of sporting decency and respect towards national teams“. This removes the most common excuse in Macedonian basketball - club commitments. What remains is more interesting: the coach's squad list and the player's own decision. The end of August brings an away match against Austria, the first fixture of a new pre-qualifying cycle, and the federation says openly it believes Dimitrijević will accept the call-up. Now that the club has said „yes“, silence would be far louder.

Marjan Ilievski comes home - to the bench of runners-up Madžari

Former men's senior national team coach Marjan Ilievski will lead Madžari, the club that reached the domestic championship final in its debut season. Ilievski is no accidental name there - he is one of the co-founders and the ideological architect of the project, so this is a return rather than an appointment. Until last season he was sporting director at Bitola's Pelister, and he brings trophies, several Macedonian sides and work abroad behind him. Madžari are also entering the ABA2 league, and will play home games at the „Jane Sandanski“ sports centre. A club that reached a final in a single season now gets a coach with international experience - if this does not work, an excuse will be hard to find.

Golden State failed three times to land LeBron - and three times for the same reason

Over the last three years the Warriors made three unsuccessful attempts to bring in LeBron James, ESPN's Anthony Slater reported. Two earlier attempts were via trade, the third during his most recent free agency - and each time the result was identical. James chose the Philadelphia 76ers. Club sources believe the main obstacle was history: LeBron played four consecutive finals against Golden State between 2015 and 2018, and the Warriors won three of them. The only one Golden State lost was 2016, when Cleveland came back from 1:3 down. According to the same sources, James feared how joining a former rival would affect the perception of his legacy. Draymond Green, meanwhile, declined his 27.6 million dollar option precisely to make room for LeBron - and ended up signing a new one-year deal worth 27.7 million dollars.

LeBron and ESPN close to a deal on a documentary in „The Last Dance“ style

According to The Athletic, talks between LeBron James and ESPN are „a yard from the goal line“ - a camera crew would follow the 41-year-old through his time in Philadelphia. James signed a two-year deal worth 8 million dollars with the 76ers, and everyone assumes it is the last club of his career. The series would combine new material from Philadelphia with archive footage - NBA cameras have followed LeBron since his rookie season, which means material exists that nobody has seen. There is no release date, the financial terms are unknown, and both ESPN and James's representatives declined to comment. Comparison with Michael Jordan's „The Last Dance“ from 2020 is unavoidable - but that series told the story of a final championship season. This one will have to tell something else.

Panathinaikos paid 10.5 million for Francisco - the EuroLeague returns to an old habit

Panathinaikos has officially signed Sylvain Francisco to a three-year contract. According to Greek sources, the French guard will earn around 3.5 million euros a season, 10.5 million in total, with the Athenians also paying a one million euro buyout to ASVEL. Last season Francisco averaged 16.5 points, 6.5 assists and 2.9 rebounds shooting 39 percent from three, finished second in the EuroLeague MVP voting and made the competition's first team. Before Žalgiris he played for Metropolitans 92, Manresa, Peristeri and Bayern. A club with money takes the best free agent on the market - a story as big as it is familiar. The question for anyone watching the EuroLeague from this side of the border is whether competition still exists at all, or only the budgets change.