Heat sign Derrick Walton Jr. to two-way contract

The Miami Heat signed University of Michigan standout and summer league player Derrick Walton Jr. to a two-way contract Monday.

Under a two-way contract, players can spend up to 45 days with their NBA team and the rest of that time in the developmental league. Walton Jr. will spend most of his time with the Sioux Falls Skyforce, the Heat’s affiliate.

Miami has had success with developmental league call-ups in the past. Rodney McGruder, Luke Babbitt, Okaro White, Willie Reed and Hassan Whiteside all played for the D-League in their careers before playing with the Heat last year. Maybe Walton Jr. could find himself wearing a Heat uniform if he impresses the coaching staff.

From the Heat’s official press release:

Walton appeared in four Summer League games (one start) with the Magic in Orlando and averaged 10.0 points, 3.5 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 20.5 minutes while shooting 46.9 percent (15-of-32) from the field, 50 percent (6-of-12) from three-point range and 66.7 percent (4-of-6) from the foul line. His 50 percent shooting from downtown tied for the third-highest during the Orlando Summer League with a minimum of 10 attempts.

Walton appeared in 127 games (126 starts) at the University of Michigan, becoming the only player in program history to score at least 1,000 points, grab 500 rebounds and dish out 400 assists. Among the school’s all-time leaders, he finished second in free throw percentage (.837), third in starts, fourth in assists (499), tied for fourth in three-point field goals made (233), seventh in steals (146), eighth in minutes (4,053), tied for 15th in games played and 22nd in points (1,471). He helped lead the Wolverines to the 2017 Big Ten Championship and was named the Big Ten Tournament MVP as he continued to guide Michigan to a Sweet 16 berth in the NCAA Tournament after defeating No. 2 Louisville in the previous game. Additionally, he dished out a single-game school record 16 assists at Nebraska on March 5, 2017 and recorded just the fifth triple-double in Michigan history after tallying 10 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists against Youngstown State on December 19, 2015.