The Indiana Pacers have signed Amida Brimah to a one-year, partially guaranteed deal, per Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes.
The Indiana Pacers aren’t quite done yet in free agency. Birthday boy Kevin Pritchard made a move on Thursday, signing Amida Brimah to a one-year deal. Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes confirmed the news:
Free agent seven-footer Amida Brimah has reached an agreement on a one-year deal with the Indiana Pacers, his agent Daniel Hazan of @hazansportsmgmt tells Yahoo Sports.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) July 18, 2019
Brimah, a Ghanaian talent, played two stints with the Austin Spurs in the NBA G-League, and spent some time on Partizan of the Serbian basketball league. More recently, he played on the Brooklyn Nets in the 2019 summer league.
But you probably know him best from his days at the University of Connecticut, where his three-point play at the end of the Huskies’ first-round NCAA tournament matchup against St. John’s forced overtime. UConn went on to win the game, and eventually the championship.
March 20, 2014: Amida Brimah (@amidabrimah) converts the old fashioned three point play to force OT in a 89-81 win v. St. Joseph's en route to the 2014 National Championship pic.twitter.com/xjiPX2zBHX
— Husky Highlights (@UConnHighlights) March 20, 2019
Brimah also picked up AAC defensive player of the year honors in 2015, and is the all-time leader in FG% for the Huskies.
His bread and butter is on the defensive end, where his elite rim protection and rebounding shine. In his two seasons as an Austin Spur, he averaged 12.2 rebounds and 4.3 blocks per 36 minutes. He’s not a high-volume scorer, but his touch is true inside: he shot 62.1% from the field during his time in the G-League.
The Pacers had reportedly held interest in Brimah over the last few months, and originally was going to be a part of their summer league roster before Andy Birdsong, assistant GM of the Brooklyn Nets and former Austin Spurs GM snagged him.
Pacers’ deal with center Amida Brimah is one year with a partial guarantee, per source. Potential two-way guy.
— Scott Agness (@ScottAgness) July 18, 2019
Pacers expressed interest over the last four months and he was originally slated to be with them in summer league. He runs the floor well and is a good shot-blocker.
Brimah’s deal is partially guaranteed, so making the final roster is certainly in question. With Domantas Sabonis, Myles Turner and Goga Bitadze all slated to get heavy roles, with the latter two of which sharing Brimah’s elite blocking skill, it’ll be interesting to see where he fits in. It’s possible that he could be the Pacers’ other two-way player this season along with Brian Bowen II.
Either way, Brimah brings strong talent on the defensive end of the floor, and is another intriguing part of a frontcourt that is getting more and more loaded. Time will tell what he can do with the Pacers.