AUGUST 9: A week after agreeing to sign him, the Hawks have now finalized Dieng’s deal, the team announced today in a press release.
“With the signing of Gorgui, we’ve added more size and depth to our frontcourt rotation. He’s an experienced big with length who can space the floor and defend,” president of basketball operations Travis Schlenk said in a statement.
It looks like Dieng’s contract will use part of Atlanta’s mid-level exception.
AUGUST 2: The Hawks and free agent big man Gorgui Dieng have agreed to terms on a one-year, $4MM contract, reports Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Dieng, 31, has bounced around the league in recent years, playing for Minnesota, Memphis, and San Antonio since the start of the 2019/20 season. Last season, he averaged 6.8 PPG and 3.7 RPG in 38 games (14.5 MPG) for the Grizzlies and Spurs.
While he wasn’t exactly a bargain on his previous four-year, $63MM contract, Dieng should be a much better value at $4MM. He’ll be a nice fit in the Hawks’ frontcourt behind starting center Clint Capela and should see regular minutes while Onyeka Okongwu recovers from shoulder surgery, if not beyond that.
Given the reported terms on Dieng’s deal, the Hawks could either be using a portion of the mid-level exception or the bi-annual exception to complete the signing. The BAE is worth about $3.7MM this season.
I liked him while he was with the timberwolves………..
As a Wolves fan we get to wait for about 5 days while everyone plucks the apples they want…then try and pick from the apples left on the ground with bruises and worms and pray to god to get anything worth while.
I thought the SASpurs might keep him but … I guessed wrong
Pride comes before the fall. Stay humble. Proverbs, 2019.
Ahhh ok, now I can see the Dynasty Sankara was talking about.
Solid move for the Hawks, definitely like it, Dieng and Hill both add to one of the best benches and deepest rosters in the NBA, especially since they are actually pretty much at the very bottom of their rotation
Perennially underrated. Good replacement for missing Okongwu for a while. They had the good draft for what they needed, and then amazingly got Delon Wright, kept Solomon Hill. Big few days for Atlanta, in my opinion. The roster is super versatile now. Good job by their GM, who always had an obvious plan, especially navigating after being put into a position of paying guys he didnt want to last year. I do wonder about missing Snell as depth on the wing now, but their young guys are more experienced now, and if they stay healthy, they should be fine
gorgui is a solid player and a great teammate, nice add.