Houston Rockets reportedly sign new center

N’Faly Dante is coming off a great college basketball season for Oregon.

He averaged 17.0 points, 9.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.9 blocks per game while shooting 69.5 percent from the field in 22 games.

On Thursday, Dante was not selected in the 2024 NBA draft.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that he will now sign a contract with the Houston Rockets.

Via Wojnarowski: “Undrafted Oregon center N’Faly Dante has reached a two-way deal with the Rockets, sources tell ESPN.”

Over five seasons at Oregon, Dante averaged 11.3 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.3 blocks per game while shooting 65.4 percent from the field in 103 games.

Considering he had such a good season, the Rockets appear to have a good outlook without having to use a draft pick.

The Rockets finished the 2023-24 season with a 41-41 record, good for 11th in the Western Conference.

They were 5.0 games behind the Golden State Warriors for the final spot in the play-in tournament.

Despite missing the playoffs for the fourth year in a row, the Rockets showed very promising results.

The Rockets also drafted Reed Sheppard (from Kentucky) with the third pick in the draft on Wednesday.

There’s a lot of excitement that he could potentially become one of the best shooters in the NBA.

He finished his lone college basketball season averaging 12.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.1 steals per game while shooting 53.6 percent from the field and 52.1 percent from three-point range.