Ramon Sessions to Sign with Hornets: Contract Details, Comments, Reaction
Guard Ramon Sessions signed with the Charlotte Hornets on a two-year, $12.5 million deal, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical and Priority Sports.
Sessions, 30, averaged 9.9 points, 2.9 assists and 2.5 rebounds in 82 games (five starts) for the Washington Wizards last season.
He gave the Wizards valuable minutes behind John Wall at the point guard position, appearing in 20.3 minutes per contest; however, with the Wizards trading for point guard Trey Burke on Sunday, per ESPN.com, there wasn't a role for Sessions with the team in the 2016-17 season.
In Charlotte, however, he'll slot into the backup role behind leading man Kemba Walker. That role opened up after Jeremy Lin, last year's backup point guard, agreed to sign with the Brooklyn Nets this summer.
It's been a fascinating offseason for the Hornets after they reached the playoffs in 2015-16. They retained Nicolas Batum and Marvin Williams for huge money, while Lin, Al Jefferson and Courtney Lee departed in free agency. The team also traded for shooting guard Marco Belinelli.
Sessions, then, is joining an interesting Hornets side that has the depth and quality to compete for another postseason berth but doesn't have the elite talent to compete for an NBA title. Walker, Batum, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Williams are nice pieces, and Sessions rounds out the team's crop of role players that also includes Frank Kaminsky III, Cody Zeller and Jeremy Lamb.
That means Sessions will have a valuable role to play next season for the Hornets in yet another stint with the team (he previously played for Charlotte in 2012-13 and 2013-14) and should earn quality minutes off the bench.
It was a smart move for a Hornets team that needed to fill out its bench with quality veterans, but on the same day that Kevin Durant announced on the Players' Tribune that he would sign with the Golden State Warriors, it was also a reminder that the Hornets aren't built to compete for a championship.
You can follow Timothy Rapp on Twitter.
