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The madness that is NBA free agency began Sunday and in less than eight hours, a pair of former Razorbacks signed huge contracts.
Patrick Beverley is staying with the Los Angeles Clippers with a three-year, $40 million deal, while Bobby Portis is heading to the New York Knicks for $31 million over two years.
Over the first seven seasons of his NBA career, Beverley made just over $25 million, with most of that coming in the last four years. His average annual salary of $13.3 million over the next three seasons is about 2.7 times what he made this past season, his second with the Clippers.
It is a nice increase for a player who has developed a reputation as one of the top defensive players in the league. Beverley was a first-team All-Defensive Team selection in 2017, his last season with the Houston Rockets.
Coming back from microfracture surgery, he averaged 7.6 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists this year, helping the Clippers make the playoffs.
For Portis, this is his first deal after his rookie contract, which paid him about $6.9 million over his first four seasons in the NBA. His average annual salary of $15.5 million over the next two years is more than six times what he made last season, which he spent with the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards.
Despite being traded midseason, Portis still managed to post career highs in scoring (14.2 points per game), rebounding (8.1 rebounds per game) and three-point field goal percentage (39.3 percent).
Interestingly, with the Knicks, he’ll be playing in the same home arena that his college coach, Mike Anderson, now works. Both the Knicks and St. John’s play at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan.
Beverley and Portis were the Razorbacks’ only two former players in the NBA full-time last season. Dusty Hannahs and Daryl Macon each had a brief stint with Memphis and Dallas, respectively.
They could be joined by Daniel Gafford, a second-round pick by the Chicago Bulls, this season. He’ll participate in the NBA’s Summer League along with Hannahs and Macon beginning this month.