The Nets are signing veteran power forward LaMarcus Aldridge and have waived Alize Johnson, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Brooklyn has officially announced the release of Johnson.
Aldridge will receive a veteran’s minimum contract worth $2.6M for one year. That was all the Nets could offer due to salary-cap constraints.
Aldridge retired last season due to an irregular heartbeat, but he received medical clearance to resume his career on Thursday, and Brooklyn was considered his likely destination. He played five games with the Nets before the condition forced him to temporarily end his career.
Aldridge, who also dealt with heart issues in 2017, started talking about a comeback last month. He averaged 13.7 points and 4.5 rebounds in 21 games last season with the Spurs as the team’s starting center. San Antonio opted to go with younger players and ultimately reached a buyout agreement, allowing him to sign with Brooklyn in late March. He was waived after announcing his retirement.
Brooklyn has been quite busy this week. The team reportedly reached an agreement with free-agent forward Paul Millsap and has also agreed to trade DeAndre Jordan to the Pistons along with four second-round picks and $5.78M in cash in exchange for Jahlil Okafor and Sekou Doumbouya.
After officially adding Millsap and Aldridge and completing their trade with Detroit, the Nets will have 16 players on guaranteed contracts and one (DeAndre’ Bembry) on a partially guaranteed deal, meaning more roster moves will be coming to set the 15-man regular-season roster next month.
Brooklyn is also carrying a two-way player (Kessler Edwards) and another (David Duke) on an Exhibit 10 deal. The club also has two unsigned second-round picks (RaiQuan Gray and Marcus Zegarowski).
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