The Philadelphia 76ers have reached an agreement with former Utah Jazz power forward Georges Niang to a two year, $6.7 million dollar contract, per Marc Stein. Niang may not be the most well known household name but he certainly made a name for himself in the NBA over the past few seasons as a sharpshooting big man for the Utah Jazz.
Last year for Utah he had his most productive year of his career, playing in 72 games, starting 10 of them, playing about 16 minutes a game. During this time Georges had 6.9 points per game on 43.7/42.5/95.7 while jacking up 4.1 three pointers per game.
Niang certainly fits the bill for the stretch 4 that the 76ers need, especially with Mike Scott’s potential exit and steep decline from his ninja headband days. Niang is the best stretch four left on the maket and to me this is an amazing pickup for this Sixers team, whether or not Ben Simmons is traded by the start of next season. Putting more shooters on this team will be important in finding out how far this team can go in the post season, while it’s continuing to be built around Embiid, no matter where Ben Simmons plays.
In terms of Niang, the former 50th overall pick of the 2016 draft out of Iowa State Univeristy has slowly seen both his production and usage tick up over his first 5 years in the NBA. Beginning his career in Indiana with the Pacers, he hardly played, but when he found his home in Utah, he started to show his growth. As he continued to play for the Jazz he continued to progress on the offensive side, especially from three point range.
Georges Niang is a great addition to this basketball team, especially coming from a winning culture like Utah’s. He brings a solid stretch four that we have been waiting years for and more importantly, a clear willingness to work hard to progress and make his team better.
Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire
Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire
