Former first-round pick Darius Bazley is suiting up for Philadelphia’s G League affiliate, the Delaware Blue Coats, according to HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto (Twitter link). He began this year playing for the Guangdong Southern Tigers in the CBA but is returning stateside.
Bazley played a large role on the Blue Coats last season, appearing in 28 total games for the G League team, starting in 27 and averaging 21.0 points, 9.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.4 steals and 2.4 blocks. He wound up parlaying that into a 10-day contract with the Sixers, where he appeared in three games but didn’t score.
Soon after the conclusion of his 10-day contract, Bazley signed a multi-year, non-guaranteed deal with the Jazz. He averaged 8.0 points and 4.5 rebounds with Utah and played in seven games with their G League affiliate, but he was waived this offseason, leading to him signing overseas.
Now, Bazley is back in the Sixers‘ developmental system. In his first game back with the Blue Coats, he recorded 11 points and five rebounds.
The 23rd overall pick in 2019, Bazley spent the first three and a half years of his career with the Thunder. He was a big part of Mark Daigneault‘s earliest Thunder iterations, appearing in 221 games with the team and starting in 118. In Daigneault’s first two years in the league, Bazley averaged 12.1 points and 6.7 rebounds in started in 108 games. He also had a brief stint with the Suns.
We have more from around the basketball world:
- Italian club Olimpia Milano agreed to a deal with former NBA forward Freddie Gillespie, according to Sportando’s Alessandro Luigi Maggi (Twitter link). Gillespie had been playing for the New Zealand Breakers in the NBL, averaging 6.8 points and 5.0 rebounds. Gillespie took a step toward officially joining Olimpia Milano when the Breakers officially granted him a release from his contract on Sunday night, per ESPN’s Olgun Uluc (Twitter link). “Freddie approached us and requested a release. While bittersweet, it was an opportunity that Freddie wanted to pursue and we support him. We look forward to watching his success in the future,” Breakers CEO Lisa Edser said in the statement, per Sportando. Fellow former NBA player Tacko Fall will take Gillespie’s place on the Breakers’ roster, Uluc tweets. Fall’s been recovering from injury with the team but is expected to be healthy soon. Gillespie played two years in the NBA with the Raptors and Magic from 2020-22. He holds career averages of 4.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.0 rebounds. Fall has 31 games of NBA experience with the Celtics and Cavaliers, averaging 2.2 points and 2.4 rebounds.
- Former NBAer Brodric Thomas agreed to a deal with Manisa Basket in Turkey, according to Scotto (Twitter link). Thomas went undrafted in 2020 before spending time on a two-way contract with three different franchises. Thomas averaged 3.3 points and 1.4 rebounds across 44 games with the Rockets, Cavaliers and Celtics from 2020-22. This marks Thomas’s first time playing overseas, as he spent the last year in the G League.
- Former NBA guard Damyean Dotson signed with Petkim Spor in Turkey, the team announced per Eurohoops.net. The 44th overall pick in 2017, Dotson appeared in 213 NBA games (49 starts) from 2017-22. He holds career averages of 7.5 points and 2.5 rebounds. He had a big role on David Fizdale‘s iteration of the Knicks, averaging 10.7 points in 40 starts in the 2018/19 season. Dotson began his overseas career in ’22/23. He’s had stints in both Turkey and China. He began the year with Nanjing Tongxi Monkey King, appearing in five games before departing.