Report: Wolves Sign Amile Jefferson to Partially Guaranteed Deal

This afternoon, Michael Scotto of BasketballInsiders.com reported that the Wolves have signed the former Duke standout and three-year team captain to a partially-guaranteed contract.

The assumption is that this deal to Jefferson will be similar to that of the deals of Melo Trimble and Marcus Georges-Hunt signed, in that they will be training camp bodies. The Wolves are traveling to China for two preseason games and given the nature of international travel, the Wolves have ample reason to carry as many players as possible.

These deals to Jefferson, Tremble, and Georges-Hunt are a step down from the two-way contract they locked Anthony Brown into earlier this summer. The team is only allowed to have a pair of these two-way contracts that allow a player to play both for the G-League affiliate and the big-league roster. Theoretically, training camp could be a competition for that second two-way deal.

Jefferson may have a leg-up there as he was on the Wolves Summer League team in Las Vegas in July. But I have to say, I was not impressed by Jefferson in Vegas. Matt Costello, since signed with the San Antonio Spurs, and Perry Ellis who signed a contract to play in Sydney, Australia both looked far more polished at the forward position than Jefferson did for the Summer Wolves.

That said, Vegas was Jefferson’s first opportunity to play at a pro-level (I use that term lightly) as he just finished his five-year college career at Duke last winter. This signing is another small piece of the seemingly infinite puzzle of the Wolves offseason. Hopefully, some news of a guaranteed contract is on the way in the coming weeks as the training camp is creeping up quickly.

The Wolves only have a minimum salary slot to offer due to their salary cap position.