The Bulls traded up to acquire Nikola Mirotic, fearful the Thunder would select him at No. 24.

League sources said Mirotic's buyout from Real Madrid stands at roughly 2 million Euros. That number obviously is negotiable, but the plan for now is to keep Mirotic overseas for at least two or three seasons of his five-year deal.

Regal FC Barcelona has re-signed Fran Vazquez for the 11-12 season.

The draft rights of Vazquez belong to the Orlando Magic.

"Of course Fran would give serious consideration to the Magic," Vazquez's agent Jose Cobelo said. "That has been his intention all of these years. He signed with Barçelona for a year to keep that door open. Once we get a tangible offer we will evaluate it. Unfortunately, we can't do that now with the potential of a lockout lurking."

Orlando had hoped Vazquez would make the jump this summer.

"The Magic, with the potential of a lockout, weren't a viable option for Fran," Cabelo said. "We don't know with any degree of certainty what the conditions would be or whether he'd get to play [any games because of the labor situation]."

A total 21 teams from 13 countries have already qualified directly for the 2011-12 Regular Season through a combination of long-term A licenses, B licenses won through results in national and regional championships, and one C license for the Eurocup Champion.  The final remaining spot in the Regular Season is a wild card created when Lottomatica Roma finished the 2010-11 season in the bottom half of the Italian League final standings. This wildcard needs to be confirmed by the Euroleague General Assembly.

The two remaining spots in the 24-team Regular Season will come from the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Qualifying Rounds, which features 16 more teams from at least 12 countries, including five new ones not yet represented in the Regular Season. 

The draw will take place in Barcelona on July 7th.

Former Duke star Jon Scheyer has agreed to a two-year contract with Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli league, the school’s athletic website GoDuke.com released in a statement.

Since winning the 2010 NCAA Championship as a senior, Scheyer has played in the NBA Summer League and led the Rio Grande Vipers to an appearance in the NBA D-League Finals. He averaged 13.1 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists in the team’s run.

"I am really excited to take the next step in my basketball career and go play for Maccabi Tel Aviv," Scheyer said in a statement. "I am looking forward to the opportunity to play for a team with such great tradition."

Trajan Langdon of CSKA Moscow, announced his retirement from basketball on the club's website Saturday.

Langdon was a two-time Euroleague champion, in 2006 and 2008, and a three-time runner-up. He was the 2008 Final Four MVP and leaves the competition ranked fifth all-time in three-pointers made (339) and sixth in both scoring (2,178 points) and steals (216). He made his announcement two days after helping CSKA to its ninth consecutive Russian League crown.

"Eight out of my nine years in Europe, I have been able to end the season with a win, which means that I've been a champion, and in each of my six years here at CSKA, I have been able to end my season with a win, so being able to do so to end my career is very special," Langdon said in an interview on the club website. "It's been an incredible run here, my six years here with CSKA, and something I will never forget."

Spain center Fran Vazquez has decided not to play for the country this summer when the national team tries to defend its EuroBasket title.

The Barcelona big man, who just helped his club side capture the ACB title, competed for Spain last year at the FIBA World Championship in Turkey.

He has contacted Spain coach Sergio Scariolo and informed him of his desire to take the summer off.

"I have asked the national team coach not to include me in the team," Vazquez said in a statement.

"I think the best thing for me is to not play the EuroBasket and rest this summer so as to face next season with all guarantees."

Alex Mumbru has become the second prominent player in the Spain squad to announce his retirement from the national team this week.

Coming on the heels of Jorge Garbajosa's decision to stop competing in international basketball, the 32-year-old Mumbru has called it quits as well.

Mumbru played a vital role for Spain on their gold-medal winning team at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan and also captured silver at the 2008 Olympics and gold at EuroBasket 2009.

According to a league source, the Wizards will be in New Jersey on Sunday to watch athletic forward Jan Vesely of the Czech Republic.

The 6-foot-11 Vesely wasn’t expected to work out for NBA teams in advance of the draft, and the Wizards were among a handful of teams in attendance when he scored 18 points to lead Partizan Belgrade to the Serbian title last week. Toronto, Utah, Cleveland and possibly Detroit are expected to witness Vesely’s lone workout for NBA teams.

The Wizards have been high on Vesely for some time and some scouts believe that he would be the perfect fit for a team that likes to run and push the tempo (or rather a team with John Wall playing point guard).

It's official: Ricky Rubio is joining the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The 20-year-old Spanish guard ended two years of speculation on Friday when he said, "I have finally decided to start the journey" to the NBA.

"This is a day our organization and our fans have been eagerly awaiting from the moment we drafted him, and I couldn't be more pleased to welcome Ricky to Minnesota," said David Kahn, Timberwolves president of basketball operations. "Ricky's skill set and feel for the game have made him one of the best young players in Europe for six years now, and at age 20 he's still a young player with a lot of upside. I expect Ricky to enjoy a long and successful career here in Minnesota."
 
The Timberwolves selected Rubio with the No. 5 pick in the 2009 draft, but his $6 million buyout clause made him stay in Spain until the priced dropped to a more manageable $1.4 million.

Ricky Rubio has cleared the final obstacles standing in his way from joining the Minnesota Timberwolves for the 2011-12 NBA season, according to sources.

Rubio will hold a news conference in Barcelona on Friday to discuss his basketball future.

"Goodnight everyone," Rubio tweeted in Spanish. "Tomorrow morning I give a press conference to say my future. A hug and see you tomorrow."

David Stern must officially give his approval, but a source said, "It's just a formality. It's done."