Jokic is deliberately waiting a year to sign the largest contract in NBA history

According to ESPN salary cap expert Bobby Marks, Nikola Jokic could next summer sign a deal worth five years and 359.5 million dollars - the largest in the league's history. The key is that the Serb deliberately did not sign right away: since 14 June he has been eligible for a four-year, 278-million extension, but if he declines his player option for the 2027/28 season and enters free agency, the difference is nearly 82 million dollars. That would take his on-court earnings to 724 million. And at 31 he is still delivering: averages of 27.7 points, 12.9 rebounds and 10.7 assists last season, the latter two both league-best. A player taken with the 41st pick in 2014 is now setting the most expensive contract in the history of the richest sports league. Somebody in Denver in 2014 was watching carefully.

The summer of 2027 puts Giannis, Jokic, Curry, James and Durant on the market at once

The same Marks compiled a list of players who could become free agents next summer and the picture is almost unreal: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, Stephen Curry, LeBron James and Kevin Durant - all in the same year. That is a calibre that could redraw the league's map overnight. The caveat follows immediately: many of them hold player options for 2027/28 and can stay, while others will sign extensions before the market even opens. So it is not a promise - it is a list of possibilities. But the mere fact that five players with more MVP awards between them than most franchises have titles could all be free at the same time is enough to keep the league on edge for a year.

From today Macedonia hosts the European Under-16 Championship in Skopje and Gevgelija

From 6 to 15 August Skopje and Gevgelija host the FIBA European Under-16 Championship, Division B. The official technical meetings with representatives of all 22 national teams were held at the Bellevue hotel in Skopje and the Princess in Gevgelija, closing out the organisational preparations. What is at stake for the cadet sides is promotion to Division A. This is not the first time Macedonia has hosted a major youth basketball event - and that is the fact least often mentioned when the state of our basketball comes up. Logistically we are holding Europe in two cities for ten days. The question that remains is why the same energy is so hard to transfer to the clubs.

Chair will not play elite basketball, and the federation is looking for a team via a public advert

The Basketball Federation officially announced that one top-flight club failed to meet its obligations and did not receive a licence to compete in the highest tier. That club is Chair. TFT and Madzari did what was required - Chair did not. The result is that the Super League will be filled through a public advert, with Sokoli closest to the vacant place. A league where places are filled by advert rather than by match says the whole thing without a single comment. Meanwhile, ABA 2 League runners-up TFT have scheduled their friendlies - the squad gathers on 17 August at the Boris Trajkovski Arena, with PAOK the first opponent. Somebody is building a season, somebody else is looking for clubs to play it.

Panathinaikos with Obradovic is the first favourite, and Macedonia gets street basketball

The new EuroLeague season starts on 24 September, and the first official projection for all 20 teams puts Panathinaikos on top - after the legendary Zeljko Obradovic returned to its bench this summer. Preseason projections are worth about as much as a three-month weather forecast, but the name Obradovic on a bench is the one forecast that usually comes true. At home, basketball is getting something different: street basketball's global star Matt Kiatipis is coming to Macedonia from 10 to 15 August as part of the Macedonia Takeover tour. A court, music, an audience with no ticket. For a generation that watches basketball on a phone, that may mean more than any EuroLeague projection.