FRIDAY, 7:54am: The deal is official, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia).
THURSDAY, 4:19pm: Free agent swingman MarShon Brooks has reached agreement to join Olimpia Milano of Italy, Sportando’s Enea Trapani reports. Trapani earlier reported the deal was likely after Shams Charania of RealGM first broke news of the talks. The terms aren’t immediately clear, but it figures to be a fairly lucrative arrangement, since the Pacers, Kings and a title-contending team from the NBA’s Eastern Conference were all in pursuit, according to a separate report from Charania earlier this week.
Brooks finished last season with the Lakers, but it appeared unlikely he would remain in purple-and-gold as free agency began. A report in late June indicated that he was the only one of the team’s plethora of free agents who was certain not to return, and a dispatch on the third day of free agency noted that he was the only Lakers free agent to whom the team hadn’t reached out. The Lakers renounced his rights in mid-July, and Brooks changed agents, hiring Wallace Prather, who reportedly tried to sell the Heat on his new client, though it’s unclear if Miami reciprocated the interest.
The Nets made heavy use of Brooks in his rookie season, putting the 25th overall pick from the 2011 draft on the floor for 29.4 minutes per game and watching him pile up 12.6 points per contest in spite of inefficiency that resulted in a 12.9 PER. A more veteran-laden roster pushed Brooks into the background the following season, and after the Nets shipped him to Boston in last summer’s Paul Pierce/Kevin Garnett blockbuster, the Celtics declined the fourth-year option on his rookie scale contract. That set Brooks up for his unrestricted free agency this summer, even though his 15.5 PER this past season represented his second consecutive improvement in that category. Brooks was traded twice this season, spending a brief spell with the Warriors before ending up with the Lakers.