By Associated Press - Sunday, July 2, 2017

The league-wide run on guards continued Sunday, as free-agent shooting guard Jodie Meeks agreed to join the Washington Wizards, according to the agency that represents him.

ASM Sports sent out a tweet on Sunday saying Meeks “has committed to signing” with the Wizards.

That post did not mention any terms. But a person familiar with the agreement told The Associated Press that Meeks will get a $7 million, two-year deal.

The person confirmed the details on condition of anonymity because free-agent contracts cannot be signed until the NBA’s offseason moratorium ends Thursday.

Meeks is the first player acquisition in free agency that’s become public for the Wizards, who went 49-33 last season behind All-Star guard John Wall and reached the Eastern Conference semifinals before losing to the Boston Celtics in Game 7.

A major problem for Washington was its collection of reserves, so President Ernie Grunfeld has been trying to shore up that unit.

In Meeks, the Wizards get a player who has dealt with injuries lately, appearing in a total of only 39 out of 164 games over the past two seasons combined. Last season, he averaged 9.1 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.3 assists for the Orlando Magic, with 40.2 percent shooting on 3-point attempts.

Those statistics are almost exactly the same as Meeks’ career averages over 454 games, including 204 starts, across eight seasons with five teams in the league: 9.8 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.1 assists, with 42 percent shooting on 3s.

The news on Meeks came on a weekend that saw Stephen Curry get a $201 million deal from the NBA champion Golden State Warriors and Blake Griffin take about $175 million to stay with the Los Angeles Clippers.

J.J. Redick agreed to a $23 million, one-year deal with the Philadelphia 76ers.

David West, finally a champion, is going back to the Warriors on a veteran’s minimum, which is now worth $2.3 million. And Detroit got some solid insurance at point guard, agreeing with Langston Galloway on a three-year deal. The Houston Rockets reportedly agreed to terms with former Wizard Nene on a three-year deal worth $11 million. It comes one day after an initial agreement fell apart because it violated rules of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Nene initially agreed to a four-year, $15 million deal. But the deal violated a rule for players who will be 38 during the contract and so Nene became a free agent again.

Taj Gibson agreed to terms on a two-year, $28 million deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press. Gibson has spent the bulk of his career in Chicago, including five seasons under Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau. Serge Ibaka is staying with the Toronto Raptors, agreeing to terms on a 3-year, $65 million deal.

But all that, of course, was overshadowed by Curry’s deal – the biggest contract in NBA history.

“Steph should be getting 400M this summer,” Cleveland star LeBron James tweeted.

The rules, for now, only allow for Curry to get half of that.

With nearly $1 billion in deals agreed to just in Day 1 of this year’s free agency period, there is still obviously no shortage of money out there for teams to hand out.

And while Curry got the most, other point guards got plenty — or will when contracts can start being signed Thursday.

Jrue Holiday agreed to return to New Orleans for $126 million over five years, with incentives potentially pushing that to $150 million. Patty Mills is returning to San Antonio for the next four years at $50 million, and Jeff Teague agreed with Minnesota on a three-year, $57 million deal. Kyle Lowry announced on The Players’ Tribune site Sunday that he will re-sign with the Raptors. Lowry will sign a three-year deal worth $100 million, according to a person with knowledge of the negotiations who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because terms were not revealed publicly.

A person with knowledge of the situation tells The Associated Press that the Cleveland Cavaliers have agreed to terms with shooter Kyle Korver on a three-year, $22 million contract.

Still out there is another massive offer: John Wall has a chance to sign a four-year extension worth $168 million with the Wizards, another deal under the so-called Supermax structure that allowed Curry to get his record payday.

Copyright © 2024 The Washington Times, LLC.

Please read our comment policy before commenting.