Day five of NBA free agency has wrapped up, although it was nowhere near an impactful day as yesterday due to Gordon Hayward's signing. However, it did see the Golden State Warriors make a new addition to their bench, while the Oklahoma City Thunder and Miami Heat both re-signed their starting shooting guards.
Nick Young signs with the Warriors
The defending champion Golden State Warriors have added yet another piece to their bench by signing former Los Angeles Lakers Nick Young to a 1-year, $5.2 million deal. Last season Young had a resurgent year on both sides of the ball.
He averaged 13.2 points, 2.3 rebounds, and one assist while shooting 43% from the field and 40.4% on three-pointers. Adding Young also gives the Warriors four of the NBA's top nine catch and shoot players from last season. Stephen Curry was best in the league at 67.4%, followed by Young at 65.4%, with Kevin Durant being fourth at 63.7% and Klay Thompson ninth at 62.1%.
Dion Waiters stays in Miami
After the Miami Heat had missed out on Gordon Hayward, they decided to spend their money on an in-house option, giving Dion Waiters a four-year, $52 million deal. Despite Waiters only playing 46 games last season he was having the best season of his career. He had career highs in points (15.8), rebounds (3.3), assists (4.3), blocks (0.4) and three-point percentage (39.5%).
Andre Roberson resigns with the Thunder
The Oklahoma City Thunder have re-signed starting shooting guard Andre Roberson to a three-year, $30 million deal. While Roberson has been an enigma on offense in his first four seasons with the Thunder, he is an excellent perimeter defender, having been selected to the NBA All-Defensive second team in 2017.
Last season was Roberson's best as he set career highs in points (6.6), rebounds (5.1), blocks (1) and steals (1.2).
Monta Ellis waived by the Pacers
With the Indiana Pacers having no role for Monta Ellis, the team has waived the veteran even though he had two-years left on his contract. They can now either take his full $11.3 million caps hit now or space it out over the next five seasons.
Last season Ellis averaged 8.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 3.2 assists. He will be suspended for the first five games of the upcoming season after it was announced he violated the NBA's anti-drug program in June.
Richard Jefferson says he is not retiring
Sixteen-year veteran and 37-year old small forward Richard Jefferson announced on his podcast "Road Trippin" that he will not retire and is going to return to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Jefferson will be getting $2.5 million this upcoming season. He was arguably the team's best bench player last season, playing in 79 games and starting 13. He averaged 5.7 points, 2.6 rebounds, and one assist while shooting 44.6% from the field and 33.3% on three-pointers.
