Walter Tavares is currently the best player in the world not playing in the NBA. His most recent performances and the influence he has on the game of Real Madrid has left no doubt about this. The center has been the most valued player on his team in eight of the last 10 games. Since Facundo Campazzo left to the NBA, Tavares has led the statistics in 21 of the 35 games of the white team. By the end of the entire season, he has done so in 27 of the 58 disputed to date.
The performance that Tavares is giving has not gone unnoticed by the NBA, who is always attentive to the best players on the other side of the Atlantic. From Madrid, the NBA has gained important pieces such as Nikola Mirotic, Sergio Rodríguez, Luka Doncic or Campazzo himself. The march of the center back to the NBA would be a very hard blow for Real Madrid. There have been several NBA franchises that have asked for the center of 2.20 meters.
Because Tavares loves the tranquility of Madrid, the giant does not intend to move. Only a dizzying offer could make him change his mind, and it does not seem feasible that it will arrive at this time. Most of the proposals are to come off the bench and Tavares prefers to remain decisive on the white team, rather than risk a new American adventure.
“There are offers from the NBA every year, but now I’m focused on Madrid”
He assured D Tudo 1 Pouco, a website from his native Cape Verde, in April last year. Nevertheless, the center does not feel the need to return to a league in which he already played between 2015 and 2017 before signing for Madrid. In his first season in the NBA he played 11 games with the Hawks. In the second, one with the Atlanta franchise and one with the Cavaliers. In those 13 games, he averaged 7.8 minutes, 2.5 points, and as many rebounds. Most of the time he played in the Development League.
In Madrid, Tavares feels valued and loved. In June 2019, he renewed for five seasons. His contract ends in 2024 and has a slightly higher clause than Campazzo had, which was six million euros. This is another handicap in the remote case that he wanted to try again in the NBA. Few franchises would offer him a salary high enough to pay for his departure without the need to do financial engineering like the Argentine base. The colossus is the highest paid player on the Madrid squad and one of the highest paid interiors on the continent.