The Golden State Warriors signed UVA Basketball alum Ty Jerome to a two-way deal that will have the four-year veteran shuttling back and forth between the G League and the defending champs.
The 2019 first-round pick, traded last month by Oklahoma City to Houston, which then waived him, had signed a training-camp deal with Golden State.
At OKC in 2021-2022, Jerome averaged 7.1 points and 2.3 assists per game, and shot 29.0 percent from three-point range.
Jerome had been due to make $4.2 million this year in the fourth year of his rookie deal, making him expendable for an OKC team that is still early into its latest rebuild.
That the only value the Thunder front office could find with him was to shop his contract around the league for a team looking to shed salary-cap space was not a good sign.
But it still may end up working out for Jerome, who is eligible to play in up to 50 regular season games on his two-way deal.
It will come at a major drop in salary. The two-way deal pays $508,891 this season.
Diakite in limbo
Another UVA Basketball alum, Mamadi Diakite, was waived by the Cleveland Cavaliers, despite having put up nice numbers for the Cavs in the preseason.
Diakite averaged 9.3 points and 4.5 rebounds in 16.8 minutes per game, shooting 82.4 percent from the floor and 57.1 percent from three-point range in four preseason games in Cleveland.
It appears that the Cavaliers are waiting for Diakite to clear waivers to be able to sign him to a two-day or straight G League deal.
The 2020 UVA alum has played in 27 regular-season NBA games with Milwaukee and Oklahoma City, averaging 3.7 points and 3.4 rebounds per game.
Diakite signed three 10-day contracts with OKC last season and got a decent look with the Thunder, getting three starts and averaging 14.5 minutes per game.
His statline in OKC: 4.3 points per game, 4.5 rebounds per game, on 53.2 percent shooting from the field.
Before getting the call-up to Milwaukee in his rookie season in 2021, Diakite averaged 18.5 points and 10.4 rebounds per game in the G League for the Lakeland Magic, earning All-NBAGL first-team and All-Defensive Team honors.
Share
Chris Graham
