Former KU guard Devonté Graham joins his fourth NBA team on a one-year agreement

The NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers have signed former University of Kansas combo guard Devonté Graham to a free agent contract, Blazers’ general manager Joe Cronin announced Wednesday.

Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The contract is for one year and not guaranteed, according to oregonlive.com.

Graham, 29, averaged 5.0 points and 2.1 assists in 23 games for San Antonio during the 2023-24 season. In the season’s final eight games, he averaged 8.1 points and 3.5 assists, as well as 23.6 minutes of playing time.

A second-round NBA Draft pick in 2018, Graham has also played for Charlotte and New Orleans in his NBA career. He’s averaged double-figure scoring totals in four of his six years in the league, with a career high mark of 18.2 ppg in 2019-20 with the Hornets.

Graham is one of eight players in NBA history who have totaled at least 1,000 assists and 700 three-pointers through their first 300 career games.

“Graham could end up being the primary backup point guard to Scoot Henderson should the Blazers trade Anfernee Simons this offseason,” wrote Aaron Fentress of oregonlive.com.

“Should the Blazers retain Simons, they could still use a veteran backup point guard on the roster, especially given that Simons could remain the starting shooting guard. Last season, when Simons was sidelined, the Blazers could turn to Malcolm Brogdon for minutes at both guard positions. He was traded to Washington this offseason in the deal that landed forward Deni Avdija. Guard/forward Dalano Banton could also play backup minutes at point guard,”

Graham, 6-foot-2 and 175 pounds, hails from Raleigh, North Carolina. He averaged 17.3 points per game in 2017-18, his senior year at KU. He’s averaged 11.1 points and 4.3 assists in 336 NBA games.

“Graham showed his ability to be a good fit in a young locker room in his year and a half in San Antonio,” wrote Jeje Gomez of poundingtherock.com. “The veteran scorer didn’t crack the rotation but was always ready when called upon and never complained about his role.

“Now he’ll join a Portland team that has a lot of youth and talent but could use some leadership. If the Blazers decide to move one of their guards, Graham could also provide some good minutes on offense off the bench for cheap, as his one-year contract is almost surely a minimum deal. He’s still just 29 and while it seems extremely unlikely that he’ll find the form he showed earlier in his career, a change of scenery could help him. Graham got $2.85 million from his partially guaranteed contract after being traded to the Hornets (in early July) and waived,” Gomez added.