Guard Delon Wright has agreed to a contract buyout with the Washington Wizards and is expected to sign with the Miami Heat, ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski first reported Friday.
Wright is the younger brother of Dorell Wright, who was drafted No. 19 overall by the Heat in the 2004 NBA Draft and spent his first six seasons with the franchise. Dorell Wright was a part of the Heat’s first championship team in 2005-06.
Washington Wizards guard Delon Wright has agreed on a contract buyout, clearing the way for him to sign with the Miami Heat upon clearing waivers, his agent Greg Lawrence tells ESPN. Another dependable veteran for the Heat’s rotation. pic.twitter.com/rLqQRgPiFM
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 16, 2024
Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald confirmed Wojnarowski’s report; the Heat had one available roster spot and can give either the prorated minimum or the prorated taxpayer mid-level exception that was freed up by offloading Kyle Lowry for Terry Rozier.
Can confirm @wojespn report that the Heat is expected to sign guard Delon Wright following his buyout with the Wizards.
— Anthony Chiang (@Anthony_Chiang) February 16, 2024
Wright will have to clear waivers before the move becomes official.
The 31-year-old appeared in 33 games with the Wizards this season, averaging 4.1 points, 1.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.1 steals in 13.8 minutes per game; those numbers equate to roughly 10.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 2.7 steals per 75 possessions.
He is in the midst of his 9th NBA season and has played for six other franchises: The Toronto Raptors, Memphis Grizzlies, Dallas Mavericks, Detroit Pistons, Sacramento Kings and Atlanta Hawks. For his career, he’s averaged 7.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.2 steals per game on 45.3/35.4/80.5 (55.4 TS%) shooting splits.
Wright’s been inefficient from the floor this year, but has shot 36.8 percent from 3-point range (1.1 3PA)–including 44.0 percent on spot-up attempts, which take up roughly 65.8 percent of his 3-point shot profile and 20.5 percent of his overall shot profile, per NBA.com’s shot tracking data. He has shot below 35.0 percent on spot-up 3-point attempts three times since the start of 2016-17, his second season in the league.
Wright, most importantly, is a bulldog defender at the point-of-attack. Standing at 6-foot-5, 185 pounds, he has a plus-three wingspan that affords him the length to create deflections. He has good dexterity and a good center of balance when matched up against bigger wings, thus making it harder for him to get pushed off his spots whether he’s in the post or on the perimeter.
He’s also a good screen navigator, which the Heat lacks, for the most part. Wright should fit in seamlessly atop the Heat’s 2-2-1 press and 2-3 zone alongside Haywood Highsmith, Josh Richardson (when he’s healthy) and Caleb Martin.
The Heat’s defense has been the best in the NBA in February and the 8th-best this season … and it just got better. What do you think about Wright’s addition? Let us know in the comments!
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Heat signs Delon wright
Heat signs Delon Wright.
Nba.com
Great pick-up for us man. This dude is a better playmaker and poa defender than JRich.
He’s a low usage high impact player, we lost that type of player when we traded Kyle.
Wright is a good Lowry replacement.
career bench guy but i trust spoelstra to craft a roster with pieces that will allow it to be more than the sum of its parts
And, as many of you know, adding a 15th player allows the 2-way players to go from 30 games availability each (90 total) to 50 games each (150 total).
That’s probably the biggest thing Miami gained by making this move. More potential playing time for the G League guys.
Insurance move? Or something more?
I think it’s an insurance move, all of guards have been injured at one time, or another. Also it gives us another POA defender, so we can lessen the minutes that Duncan and herro play together.
Jaime and Alondes at Rising Stars Game/All-Star weekend. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu0VmDA6t5I
Yep. Just read the espn article. He was mentioned as Aldones Williams lol
Got a highlight dunk and JJJ alley oop from Wemby
well, even though have too many guards/wings already that we cant give minutes to (cain, alondes, jrich), but the theres no other option anyway. The buyout market this year is meh , so it is what it is.
I think this is a subtle admission that this team doesn’t think Cain or Alondes are ready for NBA minutes yet
So Heat’s strategy is to stymie the offense poa before the ball gets to the opponent’s bigs? Hope it works vs really big teams. Well it kinda did against Milw. 27 more games. Lets go for 20 wins! Go Heat! 😁
Says it all, Heat don’t care about bigs and mismatches. Good luck with that. As a fan, all I can do is sit back and watch how the rest of the season plays out.There is something the Heat knows that the completion does not know or see.
I think it’s pretty clear that Spo only wants bigs that can switch on the perimeter. After the past five years of Heat basketball, Precious seems like the one that got away. I’m not going to say I know better than a professional basketball coach or GM, but watching guys like Embiid and Gobert flame out in the playoffs every year, Spo’s theory doesn’t seem crazy
Hope he is right this year. Just that, in the Finals, Lakers, Bucks ( ECF) and last season Denver have used their bigs effectively and efficiently against the Heat.
yeah, but in the last few playoffs teams like the Bucks and Knicks and even the Celtics had way more size than the Heat, and they still got beat
Not a knock on Doc Rivers. I have not been impressed with the Bucks for the moves on their coaches. Should not have let Bodenholzer go. I was surprised they made that move and are paying for it. I thought Griffin and Prunty did fairly well as young coaches too.
Head scratcher still to many when they terminated their champion coach after being humbled by the Heat in the first rd and changed their defensive roster at the guard position. Duh!
Sneaky good pickup, he was good with the hawks when actually getting good minutes ,his D is underrated, good POA defender, shooting basically 37 percent from the 3, but on limited attempts. He can soak up some of jrich minutes and rozier minutes, until they get healthy again, and makes us deeper. I don’t think we will get pf/c we all wanted this year, so just wait next season, and hopefully get a good free agent. Also can’t forget he’s Dorrel little brother lol.
When Dorrel Wright came to the team, D-Wade was already on the roster, and I remember people calling him “the other DW”. Does this make Delon Wright “the other the other DW”?
I think we have to determine if Dion Waiters was a DW on this team. If so, then Delon is DW JR Jr jr
Nah, Dion ‘I’m not a bench player’ Waiters was a little D-mented.
how bout pearl
Might have to go with what 2qbn about the waiters convo, since he was dw too I guess. So probably like he, but with an added tweak I would go with Dw the 4th lol.
I think Dion Waiters would consider D-Wade “the other DW”. lol. But I like it. Welcome aboard, DW IV
It is underrated move, Delon Wright is better player than Josh Richardson.
Yes, he is 1.5 years older and didn’t play much this year, also did have few injuries.
My guess is he will play great for Miami, but you will not be able to resign him during summer.
Hmmm interesting, what makes delon better then jrich? If you don’t mind me asking
Same here…but id watch our newest acquisition’s highlights just to check. Honestly haven’t seen this Delon play much.
Solid move. Glad we’re good with the fam lol
seems like a veteran placeholder to eat up minutes off the bench while J-Rich and Rozier are injured. But maybe I’m underestimating his defense. Regardless, I’m expecting him to take minutes away from Jamal Cain, not Duncan Robinson.
Could be, but whoever he substitutes for, the Heat just got a little deeper at an area of need. This seems like another good move. And when Rozier returns, we will have a few more options, and when JRich comes, even more.