The Magic and Biyombo agreed to a four-year, $72 million deal Saturday, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because a contract cannot be signed until Thursday.
Biyombo is coming off a breakout year in Toronto. His numbers don’t jump off the page – 5.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 1.6 blocks in a bench role – but he started to show more of the athleticism, toughness and shot-blocking instincts that caused him to rocket up the draft board five years ago.
Biyombo was the seventh overall pick in 2011, acquired by Charlotte in a draft-night deal with Sacramento. But he never was able to make a true impact in four years there, and some started to label him a bust.
In this year’s playoffs, however, he was superb, helping the Raptors finally get out of the first round and advance to the Eastern Conference finals.
When Jonas Valanciunas was injured against Miami in the conference semifinals, Biyombo started and was a force. He had 17 points and 16 rebounds in Toronto’s Game 7 victory. He followed that with 26 rebounds and four blocks in a Game 3 victory over Cleveland in the conference finals. He also had 14 boards and three blocks in Game 4.
Toronto general manager Masai Ujiri and coach Dwane Casey were holding out hope that Biyombo might take a discount to remain with the Raptors after they helped him get his career on track. But with big money already committed to DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry, DeMarre Carroll and Valanciunas, they were fully expecting Biyombo to price himself out of Toronto.
Orlando acquired Serge Ibaka from Oklahoma City in a draft-night trade. He will play on one side of Biyombo, with promising small forward Aaron Gordon on the other.
With no roster depth at center, the Washington Wizards agreed Saturday to pay Ian Mahinmi $64 million over four years, according to a person familiar with the deal.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because NBA free agents are not allowed to sign contracts until next Thursday.
Mahinmi’s Twitter account had a message directed at the Wizards’ account, saying: “let’s goooo.”
The Washington Post first reported the terms of the contract.
The agreement came shortly after another player Washington reportedly was hoping to sign, Al Horford, chose to join the Boston Celtics.
Mahinmi should be able to provide defense and rebounding for the Wizards. He is a 6-foot-11, 250-pound center who averaged career highs of 9.3 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists and about 25 minutes in 71 games, all starts, for the Indiana Pacers last season.
The 29-year-old Mahinmi, who is from France, was drafted in the first round by the San Antonio Spurs in 2005 and made his NBA debut in the 2007-08 season. For his career, he has averaged 5.1 points and 4.3 rebounds in less than 17 minutes.
Mahinmi is the first new player added to the Wizards since the start of free agency, although they did agree Friday to a $128 million, five-year contract that will keep shooting guard Bradley Beal with the team. Beal, who teams with John Wall to give Washington a dynamic backcourt, was a restricted free agent.
