Yante Maten
Maten was the second player in Miami Heat history to be converted to a two-way contract, and the fifth player signed to a two-way contract in general after an impressive summer league with the Heat.
For a while, Maten had a case for being MVP of the G-League in his great rookie season before succumbing to a mid-season injury that kept him sidelined for a couple of months.
Maten finished the regular G-League season with averages of 23.5 points, 9.6 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 32.7 minutes per game. Despite being injured for a while he still played in 30 of the 50 Sioux Falls Skyforce games.
He also finished with a 63.1 percent true shooting percentage on 26 percent usage. His scoring ability on all levels is tremendous, and there are times he simply looks unstoppable in the post. This is surprising because he is relatively undersized for someone of his skillset, being 6’8”.
Maten is 22 years old and has flashes of being a rotation stretch-four that the Miami Heat could desperately use.
He finished his college career at Georgia shooting 40 percent on 3-pointers, expanding his range more and more each season. He also barely missed a .500/.400/.800 career shooting spread in college, which is an impressive feat.
Do not be surprised if Maten cracks the rotation pending a critical summer. He will be facing heavy competition, but unlike last season in which he played just two games for a very limited time, he would likely look to be called upon if the Heat face injury.
Sure, he will have to compete with whoever the Heat take in the draft, if anyone, but Maten will look to build on his strong last summer and season. Maten definitely looks like he has the potential to be the next Tyler Johnson-esque player, in that he becomes a greatly effective player that was developed through the G-League.
Heat grade: N/A
G-League grade: A+