Gorgui Dieng Signs 1-Year Contract with Spurs
Welcome back to San Antonio, Gorgui Dieng (Photo via Twitter)
It is a time of major upheaval in the ranks of the Spurs, including major moves like trading Dejounte Murray and drafting three rookies, Malaki Branham, Blake Wesley, and Jeremy Sochan. Now, the Spurs have signed a 1-year contract with veteran big man Gorgui Dieng. You may be thinking to yourself…Hmm this sounds familiar. Well that’s because the Spurs signed Gorgui Dieng after a buyout when they were trying to win in 2020-2021.
Gorgui Dieng Has Joined the Spurs (Again)
The Athletic’s Shams Charania broke the news on Twitter:
Dieng has played 10 seasons with the NBA, six and a half of which were with the Minnesota Timberwolves. After the Memphis Grizzlies waived him, he played briefly with the Spurs in 2020-21. During that time, he averaged 5.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 11.3 minutes in 16 games. He then went to the Atlanta Hawks. During that season with the Hawks, he averaged 3.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 8.4 minutes per game, playing in 44 games total.
Keeping Dieng’s contract short helps the Spurs to maintain as much flexibility as possible financially, which is going to be key in rebuilding the team at this point. Indeed, maximizing cap space was the motivation in waiving Danilo Gallinari as well, who has signed a contract with the Boston Celtics.
The average Spurs player at this point is quite young, so having a veteran like Dieng onboard this season will make for valuable leadership and cohesion. Since he also is the only center besides Jakob Poeltl, we can expect to see him getting substantial minutes right from the get-go.
We will be able to catch our first look at how the new elements on the Spurs fit into the team this year in just a few days at the first Summer League game versus the Cavaliers on July 8th. Watch the game on ESPN 2 or NBA TV, and check in with us again soon for grades.