Making an appearance on DNVR Sports’ Denver Nuggets podcast on Thursday (YouTube link), veteran forward Vlatko Cancar confirmed that he plans to sign with Olimpia Milano as a free agent.
Reporting earlier this week indicated that Cancar was expected to sign a two-year contract with the Italian club, which competes in the EuroLeague.
“After the season and before the free agency, I was talking with my agent, and then I was asking, ‘What’s going on with Denver?’” Cancar said (hat tip to Eurohoops). “Unfortunately, they came out with the news where it was kind of like a remodel. … They want to say thank you for everything that you did, but they’re trying to move on now and bring some new energy, bring some new players. And then I accepted it. I said OK, I’m glad I was part of the team for six years. For me, it was OK.”
Cancar was never a major rotation piece for Denver — he set a career high in 2022/23 when he averaged 14.8 minutes per game across 60 regular season contests, but he made just five brief postseason appearances in garbage time during the team’s championship run that spring.
He has played even less during the last two seasons as he has dealt with major left knee issues. He tore his ACL in August 2023 in an exhibition game prior to the FIBA World Cup, then underwent another procedure on the same knee in December 2024. The 28-year-old, who was able to play in just 13 games for the Nuggets across the past two seasons, indicated he’s looking forward to being healthy and having an opportunity to play a more significant role in Italy.
“Milano came straight away and they were eager to bring me in,” Cancar said. “And then, obviously, I got that feeling of being wanted and being important.”
The 49th overall pick in the 2017 draft, Cancar came stateside to join the Nuggets in 2019. Across six years and 143 regular season games with the team, the 6’8″ forward averaged 3.4 points and 1.8 rebounds in 10.7 minutes per night. He was known to be good friends with Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic.