USC Basketball: Drew Peterson Verbally Agrees To Deal With East Contender
Former USC forward Drew Peterson, the only ex-Trojan actively participating in this year's Summer League competition.
It appears that the 6'8" floor-spacing specialist impressed one team enough to earn an invite to an NBA training camp: the Miami Heat, who got an up-close-and-personal look at Peterson's skillset on their own Summer League team.
Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald cites "multiple sources" in reporting that the Heat have received a verbal commitment from Peterson to ink an Exhibit 10 training camp agreement with Miami.
Across his four contests for Miami's Summer League squad, Peterson averaged 10.0 points on .467/.471/.800 shooting splits, 2.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.5 blocks per bout, in 24.5 minutes per. He took 4.3 long range attempts.
Because the Heat are one contract short of the 14 standard roster spots needed to add players via Exhibit 10 deals, Peterson can't technically sign an Exhibit 10 contract just yet. The verbal commitment is as close as he can get for now.
In his three seasons at USC (he had previously played at Rice University before transferring), the two-time All-Pac-12 selection averaged 12.1 points on .445/.384/.725 shooting splits, 5.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.6 blocks a night.
Outside of veteran power forward Kevin Love, Miami's frontcourt was sorely lacking in the floor-spacing department during the team's improbable run to the 2023 NBA Finals as an eighth-seed. Peterson and another apparent Exhibit 10 commitment, ex-Los Angeles Lakers forward Cole Swider, both seem to make sense as long-term plays behind the future Hall of Famer.
