The Pistons have officially locked up their first-round pick from last month’s draft, announcing today in a press release that they’ve signed big man Henry Ellenson. While terms of the deal weren’t announced, we can safely assume that Ellenson got a contract worth the maximum allowable 120% of the rookie scale.
In Ellenson’s case, as the 18th overall pick, that will work out to a first-year salary of $1,704,120, with subsequent raises. Overall, Ellenson’s four-year deal with Detroit will be worth just shy of $8.2MM, as our breakdown of salaries for 2016 first-rounders shows.
Ellenson, 19, spent just one season at Marquette, nearly averaging a double-double in his 33 games with the team. For the season, Ellenson recorded 17.0 PPG, 9.9 RPG, and 1.5 BPG. Although he shot just 28.8% on three-point attempts, he averaged more than three long-range attempts per contest, and will likely focus on improving that aspect of his game in the NBA.
Ranked as the 13th-best prospect in this year’s draft class by Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com, Ellenson was a candidate to be selected as high as No. 9, but was ultimately still available at No. 18, where the Pistons were happy to snatch him up.