After days of negotiations between the two sides, Luol Deng has agreed to try to fill the vacancy left in Miami by LeBron James’ departure, joining the Heat on a two-year, $20 million dollar deal.
Free agent forward Luol Deng has agreed to a two-year, $20 million deal with the Miami Heat, league source tells Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 13, 2014
The deal will also include a player option after this coming season.
Deng, who is 29-years-old, spent his most of his 10-year career with the Chicago Bulls after being selected with the seventh overall pick in the 2004 NBA draft. Partway through last season, however, the Bulls traded him to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Deng has averaged 16.0 points and 6.3 rebounds per game in his career.
Appearing in 40 games for the Cavaliers last season, Deng averaged 14.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 2.5 assists while playing nearly 34 minutes per game. He shot 41.7 percent from the field.
With Chris Bosh locked up for the long-term, and an answer at small forward found in Deng, Miami is now expected to turn their attention to completing a deal to bring star shooting guard Dwyane Wade back. The team has also recently agreed to terms with free agents Danny Granger and Josh McRoberts.
The two-year deal for Deng continues a trend with many NBA free agents looking for two-year deals this off-season, as it is expected that a new CBA and Salary Cap will be far more favourable to the players for the 2016-17 NBA season.
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