Denver’s 2015 draft-and-stash prospect Nikola Radicevic will play with the Nuggets at the Las Vegas Summer League in July, General Manager Arturas Karnisovas said on The Vic Lombardi Show on Altitude Radio Thursday.
“He’s going to play for us in the Summer League,” Karnisovas said. “And again, we keep evaluating where he is and where he’s going to be in the Summer League and we’ll go from there. We have our own process for evaluating guys that we put through Summer League and we continue talking, the same way we did with Juancho.”
Radicevic, 23, was the No. 57 overall pick in the 2015 draft and appeared in 28 games for Real Betis of the ACB League in Spain last season. He averaged 9.3 points on 37.4 percent shooting from the field and 25.6 percent from three, to go with 2.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 24.9 minutes per game.
The 6-foot-5 guard was limited to just two games during the 2015-16 season due to a hip injury.
Denver is three deep at point guard with Jamal Murray, veteran Jameer Nelson and Emmanuel Mudiay all under contract for next season, but the Nuggets have shown that there’s a precedent for strong Summer League performers making Denver’s regular season roster. Many expected No. 15 overall pick Juancho Hernangomez to spend another season abroad before coming to the Nuggets after he was drafted in 2016 but played well enough in Las Vegas last year to warrant a roster spot.
Petr Cornelie, who Denver selected 53rd overall in 2016, was in Denver and on the Pepsi Center practice court following the Nuggets’ pre-draft workout Thursday and is another candidate for their Summer Leauge roster. The 6-foot-11 stretch-five averaged 4.7 points on 42.6 percent shooting from the field and 26.6 percent from three, 3.6 rebounds and 0.4 blocks in 14.5 minutes per game this year for Le Mans in France’s Pro A League. Cornelie was with the Nuggets last year at Summer League as well.
Denver is scheduled to play their first Summer League game on July 7 against the Houston Rockets, followed by a matchup with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Toronto Raptors on July 9 and 10 respectively. In total, the Nuggets are guaranteed to play five games in Las Vegas
