JULY 19: The Bulls have officially signed Blakeney, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 18: Bulls two-way player Antonio Blakeney will be promoted to Chicago’s 15-man NBA roster, according to K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune, who reports that the team intends to sign Blakeney to a minimum-salary contract.
Blakeney, who spent the entire 2017/18 season on a two-way deal with the Bulls, appeared in just 19 games for the club, spending most of his time with the Windy City Bulls in the G League.
The former LSU standout was one of the G League’s best players in 2017/18, posting an impressive 32.0 PPG to go along with 6.7 RPG, 3.9 APG, and 1.2 SPG in 32 games. Blakeney’s performance earned him NBAGL Rookie of the Year honors for the 2017/18 season.
As Johnson details, Blakeney projects to be Chicago’s third point guard behind Kris Dunn and Cameron Payne. If Dunn and Payne stay healthy, Blakeney may continue to spend time with the Windy City Bulls, since his NBA role could be limited.
Blakeney will get a guaranteed two-year, minimum-salary deal, per Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). It’ll be worth about $2.94MM in total.
Least surprising move of the last few days lol
Agree with you formerlyz, not surprising at all, right?
They can move on from Payne and Dunn has just about proven hes back up material. Blakeney looked good in summer league, this is a bottom 5 team, play the kid and move Payne.
This is not a bottom 5 team. LOL! Payne may get some play early because GarPax directs Hoiberg to play him but after he shows nothing, I expect Blakeney to get the minutes going forward. Blakeney is more of a SG though so I could see the Bulls signing a player for the “G” league after Payne fails.