Nets Re-Sign Kris Humphries

FRIDAY, 11:39am: The Nets have officially signed Humphries, the team announced today (Twitter link).

TUESDAY, 10:43am: Humphries' deal with Brooklyn is fully guaranteed, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (via Twitter). Spears adds that Charlotte offered Humphries a three-year, $28MM deal.

9:19am: The Nets and Kris Humphries have reached an agreement on a two-year contract worth $24MM, according to ESPN.com's Marc Stein (via Twitter). The deal will pay Humphries a flat rate of $12MM in each season, says Howard Beck of the New York Times (via Twitter). Stein tweeted last week that the Nets were believed to be offering Humphries $24MM for three years, so the reported agreement represents a nice pay bump for the power forward.

Well over the cap and having used their mid-level exception, the Nets could only add outside free agents using the veteran's minimum or sign-and-trade deals. As such, it makes sense that they'd agree to bring back Humphries, whose Bird Rights they still held. The 27-year-old, who averaged 13.8 points and 11.0 rebounds in 34.9 minutes per game in 2011/12, will provide a rebounding presence that a Nets' frontcourt led by Brook Lopez and Mirza Teletovic may otherwise have lacked.

Still, a $12MM annual salary over two years is a little surprising for Humphries, especially if both years are fully guaranteed. When Humphries' name surfaced in sign-and-trade rumors, rival teams seemed unwilling to commit to him for more than one season. You have to wonder if Brooklyn's deals for Gerald Wallace (four years, $40MM), Lopez (four years, $60MM+), and Humphries are cases of the team bidding against itself to bring back its own players.

With Humphries on board, the Nets have now added eight free agents for a total of over $240MM this summer, as Hoops Rumors' Free Agent Tracker shows. And that's not even taking into account the team's acquisition of Joe Johnson, who has about $89MM left on his contract.

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