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The Rockets are signing Jermaine Samuels Jr. to one of their three two-way contracts for the 2023-24 season. The signing was first reported by Shams Charania and Kelly Iko of The Athletic.
Samuels joins fellow summer-league standouts Darius Days and Trevor Hudgins as Houston’s current allotment of two-way players. A two-way contract effectively allows a player to shuttle back and forth, as needed, between the parent NBA club and that team’s G League affiliate (for Houston, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers).
A 6-foot-7 forward from Villanova, Samuels went undrafted in 2022 before playing in the G League last season. The 24-year-old caught on with the Rockets before the NBA’s 2023 summer league, during which he averaged 11.3 points (44.2% FG, and 35.3% on 3-pointers), 5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 27.3 minutes per game.
With Samuels playing as a forward and, at times, as an undersized center, Houston went 5-1 in Las Vegas en route to a runner-up finish.
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The Houston Rockets are signing forward Jermaine Samuels Jr. to a two-way NBA contract, sources tell me and @KellyIko. Samuels earns deal after a standout Las Vegas Summer League where he averaged 11.3 points, 5 rebounds and 3.3 assists for Rockets.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 2, 2023