Briante Weber didn’t get a ton of minutes for the Los Angeles Lakers during training camp before the team let him go, but that didn’t mean his journey was anywhere close to being over.
With Chris Paul’s injury lingering around, and no clear timetable for his return, the Houston Rockets have reportedly signed the young point guard to a two-way contract, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
Free-agent guard Briante Weber has agreed to a two-way contract with the Houston Rockets, league sources told ESPN.
Weber, 24, a defensive specialist, will initially report to the Rockets’ G League affiliate in Rio Grande, but he will have the opportunity to be called up to Houston — especially with the absence of All-Star point guard Chris Paul.
Each team can sign two players to two-way contracts that don’t count against their roster maximum of 15. Players on two-way deals can play up to 45 days with their NBA team and spend the rest of that time with the team’s G League affiliate.
Players who spend over 45 days on the parent roster must be converted to a full NBA contract and begin to count as part of the full roster, which still cannot exceed 15 players.
In the wake of Paul’s injury, the Rockets are probably the ideal landing spot for Weber, who will have a chance to use his defense to earn minutes on a championship contender desperately trying to keep afloat in an uber-competitive Western Conference.
If Weber can become a valuable contributor for the Rockets, the team may either decide to keep him as a change-of-pace option for its stretch run, or at the very least such a performance would show that Weber could be a valuable piece for another team in free agency next summer.
Usually getting cut after training camp isn’t a good thing for NBA players, but in this case, it may have made Weber available for the perfect role at the perfect time.