NBA News and Notes for August 23
It’s hard to believe but we’re only about six weeks away from the start of the NBA preseason. Teams are trying to finalize who they’re planning on bringing in to compete for spots or fill out the back of their rotations. We saw a few recent signings to that effect this week. Let’s take a look at some of the deals that went down in the association the last several days.
New Users – Bet $5 Get $200 in Bet Reset Tokens for 5 Days Klay Thompson Signs With the Heat
Thompson is clearly in the twilight of his career at this stage of things. At 36 years old (he’ll be 37 in February), he comes in off a weak season with the Mavericks. Thompson averaged 11.7 points per game while shooting just 39.3% from the floor in 69 contests. In addition, he played a career-low 21.7 minutes per contest on the season. The one positive was that he did hit 37.6% from beyond the arc on 7.6 attempts per contest. Still, that wasn’t enough for the Mavericks to keep him on the roster as they bought his contract out last week.
Thompson found a new landing spot as he signed a two-year deal worth up to $13 million with the Heat. The second year is a player option with the team. Miami needs as much shooting as they can get at this stage. Sure, Miami picked up Giannis Antetokounmpo in a blockbuster deal. However, that trade sucked Tyler Herro out of the rotation. Norman Powell signed with the Bulls in free agency. Meanwhile, other depth pieces are gone as well. Thompson is going to have to find a way to turn back the clock. He is a weak link defensively but if he can score 15 a night, he’ll be a welcome addition.
DeMar DeRozan Inks Deal With the Nuggets
DeRozan, like Thompson, is long in the tooth as far as his NBA career goes. He turned 37 earlier this month and is in the tail end of his career. DeRozan put up 18.4 points per game over 31.2 minutes a night while logging 77 games for a bad Sacramento squad. Meanwhile, he shot 49.7% from the field, which was his best mark in the last three seasons. The Kings are a team in the midst of retooling and that meant they didn’t really have a fit for a guy like DeRozan playing on a three-year, $74 million deal. They bought out his deal. However, like Thompson, it didn’t take long for him to find a new landing spot.
DeRozan signed a one-year deal worth $3.9 deal with the Nuggets. He provides a good scoring option for Denver outside of the Nikola Jokic/Jamal Murray duo. It’s unclear if Denver considers him a starter over Christian Braun or Cameron Johnson. He may end up being a versatile second-unit leader and scoring threat from the bench. His mid-range game hasn’t eroded but he’s not a major perimeter threat, having shot 32% from beyond the arc last season. However, that is better than his career mark of 30.2% entering this season. He can’t replace Peyton Watson, who was traded to Cleveland earlier this week. He can put points on the board and that’s going to be his contribution for the Nuggets.
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NBA News and Notes for August 23
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