Latest:
oct 12 2026Real Madrid is searching for a small forward and John Konchar is one of the names being considered. According to SoloBasket, the Spanish club is closely monitoring the 30-year-old American, who has been a free agent since the New York Knicks released him on September 30, just two weeks after signing him. Olympiacos has also shown interest in him, so the competition for his signing comes from a direct EuroLeague rival.
Konchar is not a scorer and never has been. His seven seasons in the NBA, almost all with the Memphis Grizzlies, define him as a role player: defense, rebounding, and off-ball work. Last season, split between Memphis and the Utah Jazz, he averaged 4.4 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.5 steals in 19.9 minutes, though with a 28.3% three-point percentage, a modest mark for a perimeter player. In April, he recorded a triple-double with the Jazz: 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists against the Pelicans.
Read also:
- The Knicks search for defense in their final signing: Drew Eubanks and John Konchar on the list
- Real Madrid debuts against Partizan (86-76)
- Damian Jones signs with Real Madrid for the 2026-27 season
The interest arrives at a delicate moment for the small forward position in Madrid. Pedro Martínez acknowledged on Sunday that Gabriel Deck's shoulder injury "is more serious than we thought," and the Argentine, one of the team's key players in recent seasons, has already missed two games. Behind him, the rotation at that position is not yet clearly defined. Chuma Okeke performs adequately without standing out, and Gabriele Procida alternates between modest games and others like Sunday's against Kids&Us Manresa, in which he was the team's second-leading scorer with 15 points. Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot, meanwhile, is playing more as a shooting guard than as a small forward.
The operation, if it advances, raises an inevitable question: Pedro Martínez's roster is complete in numbers, so Konchar's arrival would force Real Madrid to make room with some departure or leave a player without minutes. For now, Madrid has limited itself to monitoring the player. His defensive profile fits what a EuroLeague team typically asks of a rotation small forward. His lack of shooting, on the other hand, is the main question about how he would adapt to Europe.
