New York might or might not bring the Serbian comrade to America after a long career in Europe.
The New York Knicks made an under-the-radar addition on draft night, acquiring the NBA rights to 32-year-old Serbian forward Luka Mitrovic in a second-round pick swap with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Mitrovic was included in the deal that sent the 51st pick to New York—used on French draft-and-stash prospect Mohamed Diawara—while the Clippers moved up to No. 50 to select Kobe Sanders.
The New York Knicks have agreed to trade the draft rights to Kobe Sanders, the No. 50 pick, to the Los Angeles Clippers for the draft rights to Mohamed Diawara, the No. 51 pick and the draft rights to Luka Mitrovic. pic.twitter.com/lLjsNluf9U
— NEW YORK KNICKS (@nyknicks) June 27, 2025
The Philadelphia 76ers originally drafted Mitrovic with the No. 60 overall pick in 2015. Since then, Mitrovic’s NBA rights have changed hands three times.
After his draft night, he was sent to Sacramento in a salary dump trade involving Carl Landry and Nik Stauskas, then again to the Clippers in 2023 in a deal for Filip Petrusev.
Despite never appearing in the NBA, Mitrovic has remained active across the pond plying his trade in the EuroLeague and posting career-wide 6.9 points, 3.9 boards, 1.5 dimes, and 0.5 thefts per game.
Most recently, Mitrovic spent the 2024–25 season with Crvena Zvezda, appearing in 47 games across the ABA League and EuroLeague, posting 5.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.0 per-game averages in the biggest European competition.
Knicks acquire draft rights to Luka Mitrovic, the last pick in the 2015 draft, for trading down from the 50th to 51st pick pic.twitter.com/hEhtRntISm
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) June 27, 2025
The 6-foot-9 forward has logged nearly 200 EuroLeague appearances (197) in his career and holds multiple domestic league titles from stints with Brose Bamberg, UCAM Murcia, Baxi Manresa, Hapoel Jerusalem, and Buducnost VOLI.
At this stage, Mitrovic is not expected to join the Knicks—but neither is (or should be) Diawara. That said, this is far from a draft-and-stash move by New York, and one more geared toward cap maneuvering than anything else.
With Mitrovic not actually signed to any sort of contract and NBA franchises just playing around and trading his rights, his non-existent salary doesn’t count against the cap unless the Knicks shock the world and bring him over to Manhattan.
As a final note, it’s worth noting the Knicks’ stellar lineup of Euro-Rights, now featuring Mitrovic along with Real Madrid legend Sergio Llull, unheard-of Hugo Besson, mythological wunderkind Rokas Jokubaitis, and current New Zealand Breakers head coach Petteri Koponen.