Pistons To Acquire Brandon Jennings In Sign-And-Trade With Bucks
The Detroit Pistons have agreed to a sign-and-trade deal with the Milwaukee Bucks for point guard Brandon Jennings.
Sources close to the situation said the 23-year-old netted a new three-year contract worth in excess of $25 million, according to ESPN.
The deal will send guard Brandon Knight, center Viacheslav Kravtsov, and forward Khris Middleton to Milwaukee.
In 2008, Jennings made the controversial announcement that he was thinking about becoming the first American to skip college to play professionally in the Euroleague. He signed with Lottomatica Roma on July 16, averaging 5.5 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in 27 games.
The Milwaukee Bucks picked Jennings as their 10th overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft. In his rookie season, Jennings became the youngest player in NBA history to score 50 or more points in a game at 20 years and 52 days old. Jennings scored 55 points against the Golden State Warriors on November 14, 2009, with 45 of those points scored in the second half. In the process, he broke the team record previously set by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1970 (53 points).
Last season, Jennings averaged 17.5 points and 6.5 assists in 80 games. But his career highs came during the 2011-12 season, in which he started in all 66 games of the shortened season. He recorded 35.3 minutes, 1.6 steals, and 19.1 points per game, and tied his personal record for blocks per game (.3).
At the end of the 2012-13 season, the Bucks chose not to extend Brandon Jennings contract, making him a restricted free agent. Jennings spent about a month as a free agent before the Detroit deal was made.
The Pistons have also signed three other free agents: Hawks forward Josh Smith (four-year, $54 million contract), Clippers point guard Chauncey Billups (two-year, $5 million contract), and Virtus Roma small forward Luigi Datome (two-year, $3.5 million).
The Bucks also signed Spurs shooting guard Gary Neal and first-round draft pick Giannis Antetokounmpo Tuesday.
What do you think of the Brandon Jennings deal?
[Photo credit: Keith Allison / Flickr]
