NBA Free Agency: Miami Heat inks three players; Chandler Parsons is a Maverick
The most wanted players in this free agency like the LeBron’s, Melo’s and Gasol’s have already been signed or re-signed by teams. It was now time for the rest of the players to associate themselves with teams in the off-season.
Here’s all the news of the NBA Free Agency on Day 13:
Miami Heat fill up roster spots
There was no doubt as to which team was affected the most by James’ decision to return home and sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers. However, the Miami Heat are looking a build a strong team and hoping to go one step ahead this season.
President of Basketball Operations for the Heat, Pat Riley seems to be giving everyone a hand in recovering from the aftermath of James’ announcement with some positive deals that he and a few players have agreed to. Riley signed a two-year deal with the biggest domino remaining in the free agency market after James, Carmelo Anthony and Pau Gasol-Luol Deng.
Deng and the Heat have agreed to a two-year deal worth $20 million with the contract including a player option for the second year. Deng who fills a major void at the Small Forward position with the departure of James from Miami, has averaged 16 points a game during NBA career of 11 seasons.
After re-signing with Chris Bosh, the Heat sign with two more former Heat free agents-Mario Chalmers and Chris Andersen. According to sources, both players have agreed to two-year deals. Although their deals have not been confirmed, it is reported that Chalmers has agreed to a contract worth $8 million while Andersen’s contract lies in the vicinity of $10 million.
Chandler Parsons is now a Dallas Maverick
The Dallas Mavericks had officially submitted the offer sheet for Chandler Parsons on Thursday which gave the Houston Rockets until Sunday night to decide whether or not they were deciding to match the offer or let go of Parson.
Having signed Trevor Ariza a day earlier via a three-team trade, the Rockets opted for the latter option and did not match the offer sheet. Parsons is thus a Dallas Maverick for the next three years while being paid $45 million in total. Parson’s third season averages of 14.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.1 assists are phenomenal given that he was a second round pick in the Draft of 2011.
He will now start in the Mavericks front court which already consists of veterans Dirk Nowitzki and recently acquired Tyson Chandler. The Mavericks also looked to replace the services of Vince Carter who signed with the Memphis Grizzlies, by coming to terms on a minimum one year deal with veteran from the Utah Jazz Richard Jefferson.
Detroit Pistons sign more shooters
The Pistons management under new Head Coach and General Manager Stan Van Gundy continue to bring in more shooters to Detroit, a ploy to have the right roster to blend Van Gundy’s style of coaching. The franchise has already signed former Laker Jodi Meeks who is an excellent shooter from long range, but yesterday the team signed two more efficient shooting free agents-Caron Butler and D.J. Augustin.
When it comes to last season, both these players were on a very familiar trajectory. While Butler was waived by the Milwaukee Bucks to sign with the Oklahoma City Thunder just before the mid-season deadline, Augustin was waived by the Toronto Raptors in December only to be picked up by the Chicago Bulls with whom he averaged 13.1 points for the season.
According to sources, the team is set to pay Butler $4.5 million with a player option for 2015-16 included in the contract. Augustin would receive $6 million over the same two year span.