Free agent wing Sterling Brown has signed a contract to play in the NBA G League, league sources tell Marc Stein (Twitter link).
Brown is still free to sign with any NBA team after signing a G League deal — the move was made to prove to teams that he deserves another shot. As Stein notes, the heavily scouted G League Showcase takes place next week in Las Vegas, so the former second-round pick will be looking to make a strong impression ahead of January 5, when NBA teams can start signing players to 10-day contracts.
A five-year NBA veteran, Brown spent his first three seasons with Milwaukee. In the 2020 offseason, he signed a one-year, minimum-salary deal with the Rockets and had a career year, averaging 8.2 PPG and 4.4 RPG on .448/.423/.806 shooting in 51 games (24.1 MPG).
His strong performance in 2020/21 led to a two-year, $6MM contract with the Mavericks, but he struggled to produce last season, averaging 3.3 PPG and 3.0 RPG on .381/.304/.933 shooting in 49 games (12.8 MPG).
Dallas traded Brown back to Houston in the offseason as part of the Christian Wood deal, and then he was rerouted to Oklahoma City at the end of September. The Thunder wound up waiving him before the 2022/23 season started, but his contract was fully guaranteed, so they’re paying his $3MM salary.
Maybe Sterling can help someone as a deep bench option.
Solid career. His brother, Shannon Brown, had a bit of a better career, but Shannon was always supposed to be a stud and Sterling didn’t get really good until late.
Sterling Brown, Shannon Brown, Doc Rivers, Robert Covington, Jevon Carter, Michael Finley, Dee Brown, Jim Brewer (#2 overall pick 1973) all hail from Maywood, Illinois just outside of Chicago.