Ex-Hornet Pargo signs one-year, $3.5 million contract with Russian club
Another American-born player has chosen Europe over the NBA.
Guard Jannero Pargo signed a one-year contract with the Russian club Dynamo Moscow. Sources say the deal will be worth $3.5 million after Russian taxes have been paid. At the conclusion of the deal, Pargo, now 28, will be free to sign in the NBA or anywhere else.
The former Laker, Raptor, Bull and Hornet, who played key minutes for New Orleans in their recent playoff run, will play for highly regarded American/Israeli coach David Blatt, alongside recent Net Bostjan Nachbar and American guard Hollis Price. Also on the team is former Blazer Sergey Monya, former Clipper Yaroslav Korolev and former Hawk Travis Hansen.
Dynamo has long had high payrolls, but has not performed at the level of Moscow's signature club, CSKA Moscow. By signing the new coach in Blatt, Nachbar, and now Pargo, Dynamo is pushing to join Europe's top league, the EuroLeague.
Published reports indicate that the Hornets, Spurs and Hawks were among the NBA teams interested in signing Pargo.
"We had a couple of interesting offers," Pargo's agent Mark Bartelstein told the Associated Press. "We just thought it was a great opportunity. He expects to do this for a year, take a deep breath and decide what to do next year. By no means does this mean we're saying goodbye to the NBA."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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