The Miami Heat continued rounding out their roster for the 2021-22 NBA season on September 2, signing summer league standout Marcus Garrett to one of their two-way contracts.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was the first to break the news on Thursday. Wojnarowski tweeted, “Kansas guard Marcus Garrett is signing a two-way deal with the Miami Heat, his agent Mike George of @onelegacysports tells ESPN Garrett honored his college rep as a tenacious defender in summer league.”
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2020 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year @ImMarcusGarrett is motivated… and the reason is bigger than basketball
In the 22-year-old’s first four games playing with the Heat’s summer league in Las Vegas and Sacramento, the three-time Big 12 All-Defensive selection averaged 11 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.3 steals, and 0.8 blocks while shooting 65.4% from the floor and 42.9% on threes.
Under a two-way contract agreement, Garrett will be on the Heat’s active roster for 50 of the season’s 82 games, while also developing with the G League’s Sioux Falls Skyforce.
Miami Had to Wait to Sign Garrett While He Switched Agents
GettyMarcus Garrett #0 of the Kansas Jayhawks passes the ball in the first half of play at Hilton Coliseum on February 13, 2021 in Ames, Iowa.
While an illness kept Garrett out of the last two summer league games, the 6-foot-5, 205-pound combo guard did enough to prove he’s worthy of earning a two-way spot. The reason it took so long for the Heat to ink him to a deal was explained by Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson on August 19.
“Incidentally, Heat remains interested in Marcus Garrett — a 2-way has been discussed – but he’s in middle of changing representation and thus cannot do anything with any team for at least a week (unless Garrett does the contract himself, which would be odd for a rookie),” Jackson tweeted.
Before signing with One Legacy Sports, Lil Wayne’s Young Money APAA Sports announced they were signing Garret via Instagram on May 1. While it’s not clear what initially caused Garrett to switch agents, it seems he parted ways with the rapper’s agency in August, when Young Money removed the Kansas alum from their official website
Garrett Impressed Fellow Heat Players & Staff
This is what @ImMarcusGarrett does 😤
Heat’s regular-season assistant coach Malik Allen, who guided the Heat’s summer league team, said Garrett is primed to play on an NBA level.
“He’s a really unique on-ball defender,” Allen said, per Sun Sentinel‘s Ira Winderman. “He has a great nose for the ball. And he has great anticipation. I guess that’s what separates him. He’s just got great anticipation. He’s a presence.”
And the Heat officially lock up Marcus Garrett on a 2-way deal
Haven’t seen an undrafted player this solid on defense in a while
Quick feet, active hands, on-ball mechanics, off-ball anticipation
And if a spot-up jumper is developed to become a 3 & D guy, they got something
Garrett also received a big vote of confidence from Heat guard Max Strus, who was signed to a standard contract this summer after spending last season as one of Miami’s two-way players.
Strus, whose insane sudden death game-winning three was a summer league highlight, believes Garrett could be a great defensive weapon.
Things might not happen as quickly in Summer League but watch Marcus Garrett pinch in on the drive and still recover for the block in the corner. That’s impressive in any league.
“He guarded me in practice the first day and he was everywhere,” Strus said:
I couldn’t even get open. So he’s definitely got that about him. He gets through screens so easily and he’s strong. You think he looks really skinny and frail, but he’s strong and he gets through screens easily. He doesn’t really ever get hit. And he’s got super-long arms that help him. He’s definitely got that. He wants to be a great defender, so that’s the biggest part of it.
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Miami Heat Sign ‘Tenacious’ Summer League Stud: Report