2019 NBA free agency tracker: Grades for every deal so far
Terry Rozier: 3 years, $58 million (Charlotte Hornets)
Free agent Terry Rozier reached agreement on a fully guaranteed three-year, $58M deal with the Charlotte Hornets, agent Aaron Turner of Verus Basketball tells @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 30, 2019
Not wanting to pay Kemba Walker upwards of $200 million — or even $170 million — over five years makes some sense. The Charlotte Hornets would’ve condemned themselves to NBA purgatory with a deal like that, neither good enough to contend, flexible enough to make roster changes nor bad enough to tank for draft picks.
However, pivoting to a deal that will pay nearly $20 million a year to one of the worst rotation players in the NBA from last year is an even worse fate somehow. Terry Rozier is only 25, still has potential and wowed everyone with his brilliant 2018 playoff run filling in for Kyrie Irving on a Boston Celtics team that came one win shy of the NBA Finals.
However, anyone who watched Scary Terry this past season should’ve been scared off for other reasons. Maybe he was just unhappy being relegated to backup duty again. Maybe the Kyrie drama was too much to deal with. Maybe he’ll be better in a starting role.
Or, maybe Terry Rozier just had a good couple of months in 2018 and isn’t anything more than a flawed floor general who can defend when he’s engaged. That feels more apt, given that Rozier has never shot 40 percent from the field in any of his four NBA seasons.
Grade: D+