The Washington Wizards announced the signing of shooting guard Jodie Meeks on Wednesday, a move intended to strengthen Washington’s backcourt depth heading into next season.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Multiple reports indicate that Meeks signed a two-year contract worth $7 million.
“Jodie will improve our backcourt rotation and fill a need with his scoring and shooting,” said Wizards general manager Ernie Grunfeld in a statement. “He is an eight-year veteran who has been a reliable player throughout his career, and we look forward to him bringing that stability to our bench.”
The 29-year old Meeks joins the Wizards after an injury-riddled season with the Orlando Magic in which he only appeared in 36 games. For his career, Meeks has averaged 9.8 points per game, shooting 37.6 percent from three-point range.
“For the past couple years, I’ve been on some teams that unfortunately haven’t made the playoffs, and losing gets pretty old after a while,” Meeks said on joining the Wizards, the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference last season. “When you’re in this league for a while, you look to win … I feel like I can still come in and contribute and play some significant minutes, but at the same time, I want to get far in the playoffs too.”
The Wizards will hope Meeks helps increase the bench production along with fellow free agent signing Mike Scott and point guard Tim Frazier, acquired in a trade with the New Orleans Pelicans. Washington’s reserves were among the least productive in the NBA last season, finishing second-to-last in bench scoring.
Meeks will compete with second-year player Sheldon Mac for minutes behind starting shooting guard Bradley Beal. Mac is currently playing on the Wizards’ summer league team. He averaged 15 points per game in Las Vegas.
“Before I signed, I asked what my role will be, and it’s pretty much what I’ve been doing my whole career,” Meeks said. I’ll come off the bench obviously, behind Brad and show a lot of veteran leadership, knock down open shots and play hard. Obviously the more shots I knock down, the more playing time I’ll get, but I’m just looking forward to it.”
• Josh Luckenbaugh can be reached at jluckenbaugh@washingtontimes.com.
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