The Basketball Federation of Montenegro has confirmed Wolves center Nikola Pekovic will not play in the Eurobasket Tournament in September. The news was reported by a couple of Spanish-speaking web sites, including sportnando.net.
Pekovic, a restricted free agent, has yet to come to terms with the Wolves on a new contract. There has been some speculation that Pekovic is using the drawn out negotiations as reason not to play in the tournament .
The 27-year-old Pekovic has been offered a multi-year deal by the Wolves, believed to be for four years at around $48 million. Last week Wolves president of basketball operations Flip Saunders traveled to New York to talk with Pekovic's agent Jeff Schwartz to explain the team's offer in more detail.
It is clear Pekovic and Schwartz have been working to get a better deal, though the Wolves are appear relatively firm in their offer. Still, a deal – which could include incentives that could raise the deal's total value -- is expected to get done before the Wolves get to training camp.
