The four-time All-Star bolsters the championship favourites even further after rejecting offers from other contending teams
Thursday 2 September 2021 16:54, UK
Free agent power forward Paul Millsap has spurned the interest of several NBA teams to sign with the championship-favourite Brooklyn Nets, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.
The 35-year-old's agent informed Charania the player rejected offers to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors and Chicago Bulls to join Brooklyn, improving a team already boasting other former All-Stars in the form of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Blake Griffin and Deandre Jordan.
Millsap had spent the past four seasons with the Denver Nuggets, where he averaged 11.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2 assists per game while shooting 37.1 per cent from three and 47.8 per cent from the field.
His best years, however, were in Atlanta where the Louisiana native was named an All-Star in four consecutive seasons with the Hawks between 2013 and 2017. He was also awarded an All-Defensive Second Team spot in 2016.
For the Hawks, Millsap averaged 17.4 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game and was an integral part of the team that finished top of the Eastern Conference with a 60-22 record in 2014-15.
Although Millsap's numbers last season were career-lows of 9 points and 4.7 rebounds per game in 56 appearances, he was mostly coming off the bench behind the Nuggets' starting frontcourt of MVP Nikola Jokic and young talent Michael Porter Jr.
In Brooklyn it is likely he will perform a similar role for head coach Steve Nash, adding a steady frontcourt presence to a bench unit that felt somewhat light at times last season, particularly after the sudden retirement of LaMarcus Aldridge and a flurry of injuries that forced Griffin to move into the starting line-up.
Charania also reported on Thursday that Aldridge is set to make an unlikely comeback to the league - with the Nets favourites to sign him - after being given medical clearance to play again following the discovery of an irregular heartbeat in April that caused him to retire.
Terms of Millsap's deal have not yet been disclosed but it will likely be less than his one-year, $10m deal last season.
Millsap joins other veteran acquisitions James Johnson and former San Antonio Spurs guard Patty Mills - potentially the most astute signing of the off-season. The franchise did, however, lose Spencer Dinwiddie to the Washington Wizards and versatile role player Jeff Green to the Denver Nuggets in free agency.
