Slovenian forward Vlatko Cancar wants to continue playing with the Denver Nuggets. The 2023 NBA champion has announced that talks are underway to bring him back to Denver for the fifth consecutive season.

“I’m still waiting for their [Nuggets] decision. We’ll see,” Cancar told Eurohoops following Slovenia’s Olympic Qualifiers victory over New Zealand, which advanced his side to the semifinals. “Yes, for sure [there is a possibility that I will return]. I want to be back. My goal is to be back. Hopefully there is room.”

The Denver Post stated that the Nuggets are refusing Cancar’s 2024-25 option, but he may return to the team on a minimum contract that would still pay him more than he did the previous season.

Cancar was sidelined for the whole 2023-24 season after tearing his ACL in a pre-FIBA World Cup game against Slovenia and Greece.

It happened in Athens’ OAKA Arena. Cancar is now making his return to official games, just a few miles from where he sustained the season-ending injury.

“It feels good [to be back],” Cancar said, before harshly criticizing himself. “I play like s-it so this has to change soon.” He went 0 for 7 from the field in 16:59 minutes against New Zealand.

“I take my shots emotionally. “I want them to go in,” Cancar told reporters following Slovenia’s 104-78 victory that advanced them to the semifinals. “Physically, I feel OK. There are no fears.”

Slovenia needed to beat the Tall Blacks by 10 points or more to advance, and they did it with a landslide victory thanks to Luka Doncic’s second consecutive triple-double (36 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists).

We needed to play like that to acquire that motivation,” Cancar remarked, referring to his team’s 10-point disadvantage at the start of the game. All joking aside. It was more a defensive game than an offensive one.”