Suns Rumors: Ex-Pelicans F Cheick Diallo Agrees to 2-Year Contract

Cheick Diallo is headed from the bayou to the desert.   

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Wednesday that the 22-year-old forward has agreed to join the Phoenix Suns on a two-year deal after spending his first three NBA seasons with the New Orleans Pelicans. 

New Orleans declined Diallo's $1.9 million qualifying offer, which made him an unrestricted free agent.

Since the Los Angeles Clippers selected Diallo out of Kansas in the 2016 NBA draft's second round and traded him to the Pelicans, he has averaged 5.5 points and 4.6 rebounds across 133 games (one start). 

Last season, Diallo posted career bests in 64 games by averaging 14.0 minutes, 6.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 62 percent shooting from the field.

"I feel not respected being picked [at] 33," Diallo said after the 2016 draft, according to NBA.com's Jim Eichenhofer.

Diallo now has a fresh start in Phoenix to earn the respect he has felt he's owed. 

Wojnarowski added the "Suns are banking on coach Monty Williams growing Diallo."

Overall, it has been a quiet summer for the Suns relative to the big splashes made elsewhere in free agency. However, Yahoo Sports' Ben Rohrbach is not impressed with the moves Phoenix has made and gave the team a failing offseason grade: 

"The Suns are stumbling through the offseason with no clear direction. In one of the strangest moves of the summer, the Suns sold [TJ] Warren — one of their more useful players last year — and the No. 32 pick for cash considerations on draft night. New Suns shot-caller James Jones supposedly wanted to clear cap space for July. ...

"It is unclear if any of the Suns’ deals made them better than they would have been by standing pat, and it only cost them a recent lottery pick and four future picks."

Along with Diallo, the Suns have added point guard Ricky Rubio, forward Cameron Johnson, guard Ty Jerome, forward Dario Saric, forward Frank Kaminsky and center Aron Baynes between free agency and the NBA draft. The team also re-signed forward Kelly Oubre Jr.

The Suns will now hope first-year head coach Williams can lead this roster to something better than the league's second-worst record (19-63) from last season.