Utah Jazz won't meet up with Lopez on European trip

There will be no reunion for Raul Lopez and the Jazz.

Utah's 2001 first-round draft choice spent the past two seasons with Real Madrid of the Spanish ACB League — the same team the Jazz will visit in October for a preseason game.

Last week, however, Lopez signed a two-year contract with Khimki Moscow of the Russian League.

Lopez — Real's starting point guard most of last season and a Spanish League vet who also played last year on Spain's silver medal-winning Summer Olympics team in China — logged 113 games over two seasons for the Jazz.

Knee issues and a case of homesickness, however, cut his NBA career short in 2005.

Lopez, whose signing was reported on Euroleague.net, isn't the only ex-Jazz player to agree this month to a new deal in Europe.

Former Jazz center Curtis Borchardt recently signed to play next season for Asvel Basket of the French League.

"I have spent a lot of time with Curtis in recent days and he will be our main reference in the Euroleague," Asvel coach Vincent Collet told Euroleague.net. "He is a very aggressive rebounder and a complete player, with good hands and very mobile for his size. I am very pleased with this signing."

Borchardt spent the past four seasons with CB Granada in Spain, where last year he averaged 12.3 points, an ACB League-high 9.9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game.

The Stanford product starred for Granada but did miss some time during his stint with the team because of foot issues that also derailed his career with the Jazz.

A first-round NBA draft choice in 2002, he played 83 games over two seasons in Utah — but missed all of the 2002-03 season because of his surgically repaired foot.

According to other current Euroleague rosters posted on Euroleague.net, ex-Jazz swingman Gordan Giricek remains with Fenerbahce Ulker of the Turkish League and former Jazz point guard Milt Palacio remains with Lopez's new Khimki Moscow club.

FUTURE WATCH: He isn't playing for their summer-league team in Orlando this week, and he won't be with them next season.

But the Jazz have a center who is enjoying some success in Europe — and, no, his name is not Kyrylo Fesenko.

It's Ante Tomic, a 7-foot-2 Croatian who was one of the Jazz's two 2008 second-round draft choices.

Tomic had a 13-point, 11-rebound double-double when Croatia beat Greece last weekend to win the XVI Mediterranean Games tournament in Pescara, Italy — a tourney in which he averaged an event-high 9.8 boards over six games.

The Jazz control his NBA rights and haven't ruled out bringing him to Utah — though not until sometime after the conclusion of next season.