12:17pm: The Pistons will be removing Evans’ two-way deal from their roster to make room for Whitehead, tweets Vince Ellis of The Detroit Free Press.
11:18am: The Pistons have reached an agreement with free agent guard Isaiah Whitehead on a two-way contract, league sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Detroit will have to waive one of its current two-way players – Keenan Evans or Zach Lofton – in order to make the deal official.
Whitehead, 23, was selected by the Nets with the 42nd overall pick in the 2016 draft and spent two seasons with the team, appearing in 89 overall games. The former Seton Hall standout was a regular part of Brooklyn’s rotation in his rookie season, but saw his playing time cut back in 2017/18 as he spent more time with the Long Island Nets in the G League. Whitehead averaged 22.3 PPG, 3.8 RPG, and 3.5 APG in 30 games for the Nets’ NBAGL affiliate last season.
The Brooklyn native was was sent to Denver in an offerson trade and was waived a few days later, making him an unrestricted free agent. Whitehead quickly caught on overseas with Lokomotiv Kuban, but parted ways with the Russian club last week. Now, he’ll return to the NBA on a two-way deal.
Today is the deadline for NBA teams to sign players to two-way contracts for the 2018/19 season, so Whitehead’s deal should be finalized within the next several hours.
When he came back from Russia, I thought the Knicks were going to give him their 2w spot. I think he has more upside than Allen.