Heat Sign Gerald Green

8:56pm: The signing is official, the Heat announced. “We are fortunate to be able sign a proven veteran like Gerald,” said team president Pat Riley. “He is a dynamic talent who possesses great athleticism, and has the ability to shoot from distance and spread the floor.  He’ll be a perfect complement to our team.

8:28am: It’ll be a minimum-salary contract, reports Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (Twitter link). The Mavericks had been interested before their deal with DeAndre Jordan fell apart, Berger adds.

8:02am: The Heat will sign Gerald Green to a one-year deal, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter). Miami has its $3.376MM taxpayer’s mid-level exception at its disposal if Green is getting more than the minimum.

Green departs from the Suns, which is no shock after agent Kevin Bradbury took coach Jeff Hornacek to task this past spring in response to Hornacek’s criticism of Green’s defense. The swingman nonetheless seemed open to a return. The Clippers had interest and expressed that to Green’s camp, but with DeAndre Jordan coming back and Paul Pierce in the fold, L.A. has only the minimum to spend. Green seemed likely to pursue a deal approaching $5MM a year, though he’s unable to get quite that much from the Heat.

The Heat will still meet today with Marcus Thornton, who also ended last season with the Suns, in spite of their agreement with Green, reports Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald (Twitter link). Still, it’s tough to see Miami signing both, Jackson tweets, particularly since the Heat are already short on roster space, as Jason Lieser of the Palm Beach Post notes (on Twitter).

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