According to a Wednesday report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, former Duke basketball star Luke Kennard will return to the Memphis Grizzlies on a one-year deal.
Wojnarowski reported that the contract is worth $11 million.
Kennard, the 12th overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft, has spent the past seven seasons with three NBA teams. He played for the Detroit Pistons, the team that drafted him, for three years before heading to the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers traded him to Memphis midway through the 2022-23 season, where he has remained since.
The former Blue Devil has never made fewer than 39% of his 3-point attempts in a season, and he’s a career 43.9% sharpshooter from distance. He averaged a career-high 15.8 points per game in 2019-20, and he’s averaged double-digit points in three different campaigns.
He started 22 games for the Grizzlies last year, finishing with 11.0 points and 3.5 assists. He and former Duke teammate [autotag]Grayson Allen[/autotag], now a member of the Phoenix Suns, led the NBA in 3-point percentage.
https://x.com/wojespn/status/1818691537183650192
Kennard played for the Blue Devils from 2015-17. He averaged 11.8 points per game as a freshman but made only 32.0% of his 3-pointers and decided to return for his sophomore year. The decision paid off as his distance rate lept to 43.8%, and he scored 19.5 points and snagged 5.1 rebounds per game.