CLEVELAND – The Cleveland Cavaliers have signed forward Mario Hezonja (heh-ZONE-yuh), Cavaliers President of Basketball Operations Koby Altman announced today.
Hezonja (6-9, 242) returns to the NBA for the first time since the 2019-20 season after playing professionally in Greece, Russia and Spain over the last six years. He most recently played for Real Madrid during the 2025-26 season, appearing in 80 games (71 starts) across EuroLeague, Liga ACB, the Spanish Cup and ACB Supercup competition. He averaged 15.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 23.1 minutes while shooting .848 from the free throw line.
During his four seasons with Real Madrid (2022-26), Hezonja helped lead the club to the 2023 EuroLeague championship, earned All-EuroLeague Second Team honors in 2024 and was named the 2025-26 Liga ACB Most Valuable Player. He also helped Real Madrid capture back-to-back Liga ACB championships in 2024 and 2025, adding to the two ACB titles he won with FC Barcelona in 2012 and 2014. In addition, Hezonja helped Panathinaikos BC win the Greek League championship during his lone season with the club in 2021.
Over his international career (2012-15 and 2020-26), Hezonja has appeared in 533 games (261 starts) with FC Barcelona (Spain), Panathinaikos BC (Greece), UNICS Kazan (Russia) and Real Madrid (Spain), averaging 11.7 points and 4.0 rebounds in 21.6 minutes.
In five NBA seasons (2015-20), the 31-year-old appeared in 330 games (69 starts) with Orlando, New York and Portland, averaging 6.9 points and 3.1 rebounds in 18.5 minutes. He also appeared in five postseason games with the Trail Blazers in 2020. A native of Croatia, Hezonja was selected fifth overall by the Orlando Magic in the 2015 NBA Draft and is one of the highest-drafted Croatian-born players in NBA history.