Nikola Mirotic stated that he turned down a three-year guaranteed contract with the Utah Jazz last summer because he was no longer happy in the NBA.

Mirotic ended up signing with Barcelona.

“I wanted to spend free agency while on vacation in Greece with my family. Utah wanted to have a meeting on June 30 to sign me as the first player in free agency. They offered me three years guaranteed, a great contract. I spoke to my wife and she told me to take what made me happy. I took a ticket for two days, a round trip, and I left.

"I was waiting at the gate of the Thessaloniki airport when I started to think: ‘What do I do at the airport? Why am I not with my family? The NBA?’. I said to myself: ‘Don’t do it Niko. If you go, you will sign.’ I left the airport and went back to the hotel. I told my agent that I wasn’t going to catch the flight and to apologize to Utah for not attending the meeting. “I’m going to take another path, I don’t want to continue in the NBA," said Mirotic.

Mirotic added that he returned to Europe to rediscover his joy for the game.

"My role was always the same [in the NBA]. I was a player who was open to take the shots, who made a ‘pick-and-pop’ among the big guys… I was expected to score 10 points, take a couple of rebounds and that’s it. I felt that time was passing and I had not played the best basketball of my life, although it was very good. As soon as I didn’t feel that joy and happiness to improve, I said it was time to go back and do something bigger in Europe." 

Comments from Joe Ingles over two months ago about not playing to protect his family from COVID-19 resurfaced in Australia this week. Ingles responded on Twitter with an update to his position.  

Ingles has a son with autism and a weekend immune system.

For context, I said this over 2 months ago when we knew nothing about the virus & what it could do. I know the Jazz/NBA would only have us play if they were confident that everyone's health has been put first. When it's safe to go back and play, I will not let my teammates down! https://t.co/zNonZRJHsN

— Joe Ingles (@Joeingles7) May 22, 2020

Jerry Sloan has passed away at the age of 78 due to complications from Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia.

A 2009 inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Sloan spent 23 seasons as the head coach of the Jazz (1988-2011), finishing his career with the third most wins in NBA history (1,221-803), sixth best winning percentage (.603) all-time (min. 500 wins), two NBA Finals appearances (1997 and 1998) and seven division titles. He also guided the Jazz to 16 consecutive winning seasons and thirteen 50-win seasons. Sloan’s teams made 20 trips to the NBA Playoffs (19 with Utah: 1989-2003, ’07-10) and his 98 playoff wins are the sixth most in NBA history.

Sloan worked for the Jazz organization for 34 years as either head coach, assistant, scout or senior basketball adviser.

A veteran of the NBA as a player and coach for more than 45 years, prior to joining the Jazz, Sloan coached the Chicago Bulls for three seasons (1979-82) and was a two-time NBA All-Star as a player (1967, 1969) over 11 NBA seasons with Chicago and Baltimore (1965-76).

The New York Knicks are finalizing a deal to hire Walt Perrin as assistant general manager.

Perrin has worked for the Utah Jazz for the past 19 seasons and was most recently VP of Player Personnel.

The Knicks are reshaping the front office under Leon Rose.

Bojan Bogdanovic will undergo season-ending surgery on his right wrist.

Bogdanovic is expected to be ready for the start of the 20-21 season.

Bogdanovic suffered the injury in January and played through it. Bogdanovic's discomfort from the injury emerged again during the shutdown and led to the decision not to delay surgery.

The Utah Jazz signed Bogdanovic to a four-year, $73 million deal last summer.

The future of Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell as functioning teammates with the Utah Jazz has been a question of concern since they both tested positive for COVID-19 in March.

"They're ready to put this behind them, move forward, act professionally," Dennis Lindsey said on a Zoom call Tuesday with media. "Look, the COVID-19 night of March [11] was really unprecedented. It brought a microscope to our team, and we get it. With that said, we're very pleased with the collective makeup of our group, Donovan and Rudy in particular.

"We look forward to moving forward. They've said their piece to each other. They've both visited at the ownership level, at management level, at the coaches level, at the players level with each other."

Gobert signed a four-year, $102 million extension with the Jazz in 2016. Gobert will be eligible to sign a supermax extension this offseason. 

Mitchell will also be eligible to sign an extension with the Jazz this offseason and he is expected to do so.