He is likely to become a free agent, and will the Suns Serbian veteran return to the European arena?

According to Italian basketball media Sportando reporter Alessandro Maggi, Serbian backcourt veteran Vasilije Micic, who currently plays for the Phoenix Suns, hopes to get a contract with an annual salary of 5 million euros (about 5.685 million US dollars) next season. Strictly speaking, Misic has not yet become a free agent because his Suns are holding the $8.1 million team option on his contract next season. However, considering that Misic has almost no way to get playing time after joining the Suns, there is almost no option for the Suns to choose to execute this team.

Misic was born in January 1994. He is 31 years old, 191cm tall and weighs 88kg. He is the backcourt player selected by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 52nd pick in the second round in the 2014 NBA Draft. Misic has a brilliant resume in the European arena. He was the MVP winner of the two-year semi-finals in the 2021 and 2022 Champions League. He is the best backcourt player in the European arena, even no one. Therefore, the Oklahoma City Thunder gave Misic a three-year contract in the summer of 2023, with a total amount of $23.56 million, of which the third year of the contract was the player option. Given Misic's age and the fact that he has never made a NBA game, the salary on this contract is already very high. In fact, Misic's performance when playing for the Thunder is gradually getting better. He was able to play a certain role after joining the Charlotte Hornets in the second half of last season. However, this season, Misic's overall performance has also declined significantly.

Before the trading deadline for this season, the Suns reached an agreement with the Hornets, who sent Misic, Cody Martin, the first round pick swap rights in 2026, the second round pick of Houston Rockets in 2024, and the second round pick of the Suns in 2025, and got Yusuf Nurkic from the Suns. As a result, after joining the Suns, Misic only got 5 play opportunities in total, with averaging only 4.1 minutes per game. During this period, not only did he not score 1 point, but he did not even complete one shot. He only contributed 0.4 rebounds and 0.2 assists, as well as 0.6 turnovers and 0.2 fouls. Obviously, the Suns do not recognize Misic's age, which is also an important factor in their refusal to provide him with enough playing time.

At present, Misic has attracted the interest and attention of Israeli team Hapoel Tel Aviv and Serbian team Crvena Zvezda. Although the market seems to be quite good, Maggi also said that Misic's asking price is very high and can be considered a very high salary throughout Europe, and not many teams can meet Misic's requirements in terms of financial resources. Even though some teams are interested in Misic, they have to be discouraged by him considering his salary.