Nikola Kalinic denies rumors about agreement with Crvena Zvezda / News - Basketnews.com

Nikola Kalinic denied the reports about being close to an agreement with Crvena Zvezda, reminding everyone that he still has a contract with Barcelona for another season.

Credit: Rokas Snarskis Credit Rokas Snarskis

FC Barcelona leave Kaunas with two losses in the EuroLeague Final Four, and Nikola Kalinic didn't hide his disappointment.

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Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz FC Barcelona84-91 FC Barcelona UCAM MurciaWed18:30

After losing against Real Madrid in the semis, Barca couldn't deal with AS Monaco, losing the 3rd place game 66-78.

"They simply played better, harder, and wanted the win more," Kalinic summarized the game in short while talking with BasketNews.

As expected, the atmosphere in the game was poor, to say the least. Plenty of empty seats and peace that allows to hear coaches' and players' conversations.

Kalinic was clear that the current format should be changed. Barcelona member believes replacing Final Four with the series format would be a better solution.

"Of course, we are talking about it for I don't know how many years, but they still want this [3rd place] game that no one wants to play and watch," said the Serbian forward.

On Sunday, some rumors about Kalinic's future appeared.

TrendBasket reported that Kalinic is closing to an agreement with Crvena Zvezda Meridianbet Belgrade. However, Kalinic himself denied such reports.

"Not that I know [about it]," Kalinic told BasketNews. "Maybe they know something that I don't."

After being asked to specify whether he sees himself in Barcelona next year, Kalinic confirmed that it's exactly the case.

"I have a contract for another year. I have said that for I don't know many times. Obviously, no one's listening [for] it," Kalinic added.

However, the 31-year-old admitted that the 2022-23 campaign isn't going as planned, neither for him individually nor on a team level.

"Not very good," Kalinic admitted after being asked how he sees his first year with Barca. "We lost the [Spanish] Cup, we lost [in] the Final Four. We have one more chance with ACB League to do something this year. Obviously, we are playing poorly in the elimination games. I also don't think that I play well individually," Kalinic concluded

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