Former Indiana Basketball Player Romeo Langford Signing Exhibit 10 Deal with Utah Jazz
Former Indiana men's basketball player Romeo Langford is signing an Exhibit 10 deal with the Utah Jazz, first reported by The Athletic's Tony Jones and Shams Charania.
Langford played for coach Archie Miller and the Indiana Hoosiers during the 2018-19 season. The five-star guard from New Albany, Ind. committed to IU as the highest-ranked recruit in program history, beating out several former five-star Hoosiers in Noah Vonleh, Thomas Bryant, Cody Zeller and D.J. White for that distinction.
Overall, Langford was ranked as the fifth-best prospect in the entire class of 2018, according to 247 Sports. The only four recruits 247 had ranked ahead of him were R.J. Barrett, Nassir Little, Cam Reddish and Bol Bol.
Despite the massive hype that surrounded Langford when he arrived in Bloomington, his lone year at Indiana was a disappointment. Langford led the 2018-19 team in scoring at 16.5 points per game, but his efficiency dragged, as he shot an abysmal 27.2% from three.
Of course, it's hard to blame Langford for his lackluster shooting that season, as he played the final 26 games with a torn ligament in his right thumb. The basketball ability of Langford can be questioned. His toughness and commitment to his teams, however, is assured.
Additionally, as was often the case under Miller, the entire IU team fell short of expectations, stumbling to a 19-16 record and an 8-12 mark in Big Ten play.
Langford declared for the NBA Draft following his freshman season at Indiana, and was selected by the Boston Celtics the 14th overall pick in 2019. The Celtics acquired the pick they used on Langford from the infamous Markelle Fultz-Jayson Tatum trade they had made with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2017.
The Indiana guard played for Boston from 2019-22 before he was traded to the San Antonio Spurs midway through his third season in the NBA. The Celtics were a serious contender from the moment Langford entered the league, making it hard for him to ever crack the team's rotation.
Langford only played in 94 games total for the Celtics, and he often only saw spare minutes off the bench when called upon. In terms of raw statistics, Langford's 2022-23 season with the San Antonio Spurs was his best NBA campaign to date, as he averaged 19.6 minutes and 6.9 points in 43 games played.
The Spurs, however, renounced the free agent rights to Langford in July.
Though Langford is once again on an NBA team in Utah, his place with the Jazz is far from secure. Exhibit 10 contracts, while contracts all the same, are more of a mechanism by which NBA teams can get a look at players on the fringes of the roster. They are far from a stable guarantee of the player's future.
Sam Jarden of The Sporting News explained it as such:
"An Exhibit 10 contract is a one-year, minimum salary contract with no other bonuses. The Exhibit 10 attachment gives NBA teams the ability to convert the contract into a Two-Way deal, but only if they do it before the start of the regular season."
"They are usually non-guaranteed, allowing teams to waive the player without taking a cap hit. In that situation, the player would earn a bonus of between $5,000 to $50,000 if they remain with the team's G League affiliate for 60 days."
"Exhibit 10s are handy to teams for a couple of reasons. For one, they allow the flexibility to either retain the player on a minimum deal or convert the contract to a Two-Way depending on their performance. They also allow for the player to be waived at no cap penalty if the team isn't sold on their potential."
Langford might prove all of his doubters wrong and in time secure a Two-Way contract with the Utah Jazz, and perhaps even a full roster spot on a long enough timeline. But for now, he's facing an uphill battle entering his fifth season in the NBA.
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