NBA Free Agency: Smart to re-sign with the Celtics, Nemanja Bjelica to consider Kings

#2 Nemanja Bjelica in talks with Kings after backing out of Sixers deal

Houston Rockets v Minnesota Timberwolves - Game Four

Nemanja Bjelica had found a comfort level in Minnesota, but when Tom Thibodeau pulled his qualifying offer to sign Anthony Tolliver, it left the Serbian forward without a deal. Philadelphia raced in with a one-year, $4.4 million offer, and he took it.

Then on Tuesday, he backed out, saying he wanted to return to Europe with his family. What he said he wanted was stability, he told Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic, although it remained unclear how sacrificing the opportunity to make millions of dollars more in USA contributed more to his long-term stability than a 2-3 year deal in Europe:

"It’s not about coach or the Philly organization,” Bjelica told The Athletic in a phone conversation on Tuesday. “Brett Brown, he’s a great guy and a great coach. The most important thing for me is family and some kind of stability…"

“I’m thankful for Philly for the opportunity, but I will always do what is the best for my family,” Bjelica said. “At that point, I was considering European life.”

But right now, amid reports that he is in talks with the Kings for a long-term deal, fresh questions have risen as to how legitimate his actions were. Bjelica is theoretically a good fit with the Kings given his ability to space the floor, but they have a crowded frontcourt with Harry Giles, Willey-Cauley Stein, Marvin Bagley and Zach Randolph among others. Unless they are offering Bjelica a multi-year deal, the Serbian's decision to back out of a deal with Philly will look pretty bad.