Portland Trail Blazers: Jack Cooley Opts For Turkey

Before signing with Turkey’s Trabzonspor, Memphis Grizzlies summer league forward Jack Cooley turned down training camp invites – including partially guaranteed deals from the Portland Trail Blazers and nine other NBA teams.

Notre Dame product Jack Cooley turned down a partially guaranteed offer from the Portland Trail Blazers–one of 10 teams to offer Cooley a shot at a roster spot–to sign a lucrative deal in Turkey.

Cooley had received camp deals and some partially guaranteed offers out of the Portland Trail Blazers, Grizzlies, San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, Brooklyn Nets, Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets, Indiana Pacers and Cleveland Cavaliers, Pensack said. Even so, the Turkish club gave Cooley an offer too lucrative to reject. Portland was believed to be the front-runner to sign Cooley, but were overlooked in the end as the offer did not match the far more lucrative deal from Turkey.

Cooley, a 22-year-old forward at 6-foot-9, averaged 15 points and 9.2 rebounds over six games with the Grlzzlies in the Las Vegas summer league. He averaged 13.1 points and 10.1 rebounds in his senior season at Notre Dame, going undrafted in the June NBA draft.

“He will play a lot against top level competition and will come back next year even more ready for the NBA,” said Adam Pensack, Cooley’s agent.

It is believed Cooley will pursue an NBA contract next season after looking like a solid prospect during his time in college. After going undrafted, many thought Cooley would be a good role player on a developing team, but ended up choosing to overseas for a more lucrative contract.