Marreese Speights can officially begin the moving process. He's going home. Well, kind of. He's returning to the state where he was born (St. Petersburg) and played collegiate ball University of Florida, Gainesville). The Orlando Magic have spent the past few days signing veterans to buoy their relatively young roster. Speights may be the most important of them all, though.
Speights is in the building
On Thursday afternoon, Speights put the pen to paper. USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt reported that the deal will be for one year and for a veteran's minimum salary, which is $2.1 million (the same contract Derrick Rose signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers).
He is considered a stretch forward and can help space the floor with his ability to hit perimeter jumpers. There are already several players like that on the Magic, though, so the fit may be crowded.
Welcome to the team, @Mospeights16! #PureMagic 💙 pic.twitter.com/FTzCGEM9W1
— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) July 27, 2017
This will be the sixth stop of Speights' career. He won an NCAA Championship with the Florida Gators back in 2007 and an NBA title with the Golden State Warriors in 2015. Last season, he played for the Los Angeles Clippers, having a somewhat disappointing campaign. He played in all 82 games for the first time in his career and made a career-best 87.6% of his free throws, but he saw a slide in his three-point percentage in increased minutes.
Additionally, he didn't win a title like he did the previous season. He probably shouldn't expect otherwise in Orlando this season.
Magic continue flurry of moves
Speights isn't the only one who penned a contract on Thursday. The team confirmed the signing of another veteran, Arron Afflalo. He spent 2012 to 2014 on the Magic, so the team is treating it as a homecoming of sorts.
He also shot a career-best from the free throw line last season but saw his scoring drop to its lowest total since his sophomore year with the Detroit Pistons during his lone season with the Sacramento Kings.
The Magic also signed Khem Birch to a contract. Since finishing his collegiate career, Birch has been playing overseas.
This is the first NBA contract he has received. He was an All-Star in the D-League back in 2015 and was an All-Star in the Turkish League last season, playing for Olympiacos. He may not have a great impact on Orlando this season, but Speights and Afflalo should perform well as the team looks to shed their losing streak of the past few years and put a decent product on the court for the fans for the first time in nearly half a decade.