Georges Niang and the Cleveland Cavaliers have agreed to a three-year, $26 million deal, according to Adrian Wojnarowski and Jake Fischer. Niang spent the last two seasons as a key reserve for the Philadelphia 76ers.
Free agent F George Niang has agreed on a three-year, $26 million contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers, his agents Mark Bartelstein and Andy Shiffman of @PrioritySports tell ESPN. Niang leaves Sixers for another Eastern contender. pic.twitter.com/PsF6euvmQV
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 30, 2023
Georges Niang's three-year, $26 million deal with Cleveland is fully guaranteed, sources said.
— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) June 30, 2023
Since emerging as a rotation player for the Utah Jazz in 2018-19, the former Iowa State Cyclone has been one of the league’s foremost bench shooters. He’s knocked down 40.3 percent of his long balls, including 40.2 percent during his two seasons with the Sixers. Niang is coming off his best season to date, when he averaged 8.2 points (61.0 percent true shooting), 2.4 rebounds and 1.0 rebounds per game. He also shot 57.6 percent on two-pointers, showcasing some newfound juice attacking closeouts and bumping his way into buckets off the bounce. Although, he can grow overly audacious as a driver at times and wander into sticky situations.
While Niang is not a renowned defender, he improved defensively this past year, wielding better lateral movement and ability to survive in space on the perimeter, though teams can still exploit him, particularly when running him through off-ball screens. He’s a good player who contributed to the Sixers being pretty good in 2021-22 and 2022-23, despite their playoff flameouts. He’ll help the Cavaliers, who also re-signed Caris LeVert, with his quick trigger, high-volume floor-spacing, and bring them another wing option to a team that, in the postseason, showed that was very much an area needing improvement.
