Dozier lands with OKC Thunder, and he’s wearing Kevin Durant’s old number

Former South Carolina standout P.J. Dozier officially signed his two-way contract Tuesday with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Dozier likely will begin the season with the Thunder’s G-League team, the Oklahoma City Blue. This is the first year teams are using two-way contracts. In addition to the standard 15 players on the roster, players on two-way contracts spend most of the season in the NBA G League, but they can be called up to their NBA team for a maximum of 45 days.

Terms of Dozier’s agreement weren’t released.

Dozier is wearing Kevin Durant’s old No. 35 jersey and news of that made its way into national talk shows and publications. The number has not been worn since Durant left OKC last season for the Golden State Warriors.

Dozier wore No. 35 for the Mavs in preseason and does it for a tribute to his second cousin Reggie Lewis, a former Boston Celtics player who died in 1993.

Dozier spent time with the Los Angeles Lakers’ summer league team and in the preseason with the Dallas Mavericks before being waived last week. OKC scouted Dozier the most the past two seasons when he was at USC, with general manager Sam Presti making several trips to Columbia.

In two seasons at South Carolina, Dozier started 64 games, averaged 10.4 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.34 steals in 24.0 minutes per game.

During the Gamecocks’ NCAA Tournament run last year, Dozier averaged 12.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game in helping USC to its first Final Four berth.

The Oklahoma City Blue open the season Nov. 3 against the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.

This story was originally published October 17, 2017 at 2:25 PM with the headline "Dozier lands with OKC Thunder, and he’s wearing Kevin Durant’s old number."