,

Timberwolves sign Greg Smith for the remainder of season

Raptors 905 won't be getting him back at any point.

Raptors 905 won’t be getting their big mid-season acquisition back at any point.

The Minnesota Timberwolves will sign Greg Smith for the remainder of the season, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press. The Wolves had originally plucked Smith on a 10-day contract on March 2, then re-upped him for another 10 days on March 12.

His second deal expired Tuesday and the Wolves were likely waiting for Wednesday to make things official, saving a day’s worth of prorated pay in the process. Don’t cry for Smith if that was the case, as he’s already received over $111,000 in his 20 days in the NBA, and he’ll receive the prorated fifth-year veteran minimum of $1.02 million once signed again.

The 905 landed Smith in early January, and his arrival coincided with a major turnaround in performance for the team. In 17 games, Smith averaged 12.6 points, eight rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.1 steals, getting to the line plenty and helping the 905 outscore opponents by 8.3 points per-100 possessions while on the floor. He never seemed long for the D-League given his 131 games of NBA experience over four prior seasons with Houston and Dallas, but his short D-League stint was a win-win – the 905 got a few games out of him and he may have passed some things on to the remaining players, and Smith received a showcase to make his way back to the big leagues.

It may be unfortunate for the 905 to lose an asset without compensation – they’ll move to the top of the waiver priority once Smith’s deal becomes official – but doing right by a player has rarely hurt an organization in the past. I understand the refrain that developing players on the Raptors’ dime and then seeing it flourish elsewhere is hard to swallow, and it’s definitely a drawback of the current D-League setup, but again, it’s never bad to do something well, in this case developing and showcasing talent.

Since his call-up, the 25-year-old Smith has appeared in nine games for the Wolves, averaging 2.3 points and 2.2 rebounds in 10.4 minutes while shooting 56.2 percent. He’s a nice mix of youth and experience for Minnesota and a solid addition for the stretch run.