Report: Badgers legend Frank Kaminsky agrees to free agent deal with Suns

Wisconsin’s former star is headed to the Phoenix Suns on a two year, 10 million dollar deal. Kaminsky was the ninth overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft and spent the first four seasons of his career with the Charlotte Hornets.

The Hornets declined Kaminsky’s fifth year option for next season, allowing Kaminsky to seek out a new deal on the open market. After four seasons in Charlotte it appeared Kaminsky was ready for a new start. Kaminsky has shown flashes of brilliance in his time with Charlotte, but overall it has been an up and down career for the former Badger great.

In his second and third season, the former Naismith Award winner averaged 24 minutes per game and scored a 11 points per game while playing in over 75 games in each of those two seasons. However, this past year Kaminsky saw a significant drop off in minutes and games played under head coach James Borrego. Kaminsky saw very little of the court until the latter half of the season where he came on and his production appeared to rise, averaging 12.3 points per game in the last twenty games of the season.

Kaminsky will look to get a fresh start in Phoenix likely as the first center off the bench. With 2018 first overall pick Deandre Ayton firmly entrenched in the starting role, Frank the Tank will look to provide a spark with the second unit. If Kaminsky can improve his production over the next two seasons, he should be in line for a bigger contract down the road.

During his final season in Madison, Kaminsky averaged 18.8 points per game, 8.2 boards per game, 2.6 assists per game and 1.2 blocks per game. He was a consensus first-team All-American, won basically every player of the year award that the media hands out and lead the Badgers to within minutes of the national title, but we won’t talk about that any more.