Nuggets Sign Sean Kilpatrick To 10-Day Contract

1:15pm: The signing is official, the team announced. Denver has five games in the next 10 days.

8:07am: The Nuggets plan to sign former Timberwolves and Pelicans shooting guard Sean Kilpatrick to a 10-day contract, league sources tell Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Denver has an open roster spot, since it waived Kostas Papanikolaou last week. Kilpatrick has dazzled for the D-League affiliate of the Sixers this season, and he tops the D-League player rankings that Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor compiled today.

Kilpatrick, 26, is averaging 27.1 points in 38.5 minutes per game with 45.5% 3-point shooting on 164 attempts with the D-League Delaware 87ers this season. The Wizards reportedly gave him strong consideration for a signing last month. New Orleans signed him in September, but he didn’t shoot well from the outside during the preseason, nailing just six of 25 attempts from behind the arc, and the Pelicans cut him before opening night and before any of his salary became guaranteed.

The undrafted former University of Cincinnati standout grabbed his first NBA contract last season in large measure because he was in the right place at the right time. The Timberwolves needed someone to give them the NBA minimum of eight healthy players for a March game against the Knicks in New York, and Kilpatrick was close enough to get to the game on time. He played a fairly prominent role in his brief stint with Minnesota, which signed him to a 10-day contract, averaging 5.5 points in 17.9 minutes per contest, though he made just four of 13 3-point tries.

Kilpatrick reportedly had auditions with the Lakers, Spurs and Hawks, as well as a summer league stint with the Bucks, before landing with New Orleans in the offseason. The Nuggets, right around league average in 3-pointers made, surely hope his D-League shooting numbers are more indicative of his abilities than his NBA shooting numbers are.

Zach Links of Hoops Rumors spoke with Kilpatrick as he transitioned from college to the pros in 2014.