Miami Heat guard Wayne Ellington: Then, now and what’s to come
By Rob Slater
From college stardom to a NBA journeyman, Wayne Ellington finally found consistency with the Miami Heat.
One of the trademarks of this current era of Miami Heat basketball, is a collection of longtime NBA journeymen finding a permanent home and experiencing their very best period of basketball, in what has been an uneven career for some.
Maybe one the best examples of that is sharpshooter Wayne Ellington, who arrived in Miami during the chaotic free agency of 2016, which saw franchise cornerstone Dwyane Wade depart for the Chicago Bulls.
At just 28 years old, a two-year investment in Ellington made sense, as the Heat pieced together a serviceable roster.
The story of Ellington’s career up until this point has been one very common of a journeyman in the NBA. The Heat mark his seventh team since coming into the league in 2009 out of University of North Carolina, and his arrival in Miami ended a stretch of five years where he spent a season or less with a particular team.
Despite bouncing around the league, Ellington was consistent in his performance and his ability to stay on the floor and contribute. He appeared in more than 62 games in six of his nine NBA seasons. That number expects to rise to seven out of nine by the conclusion of this year, as Ellington has already appeared in 54 games for the Heat.
From college standout at North Carolina where he was named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament after leading the Tar Heels to a championship, to a career in the NBA that has proven consistent amidst the chaos, landing him in his most stable situation to date, let’s take a look back at the career of Wayne Ellington.