It’s official: South Carolina star Chris Silva signs long-term deal with Miami Heat
Chris Silva is officially a full-time member of the Miami Heat.
The rookie who undrafted out of South Carolina inked a standard three-year contract with the NBA team Wednesday.
Such news began to trickle out about the two-time All-SEC selection earlier this week. Gamecocks coach Frank Martin was made aware by the end of the weekend that Silva, a hard-working forward, was about to elevated from his two-way deal with the Heat’s G League affiliate.
“I’m ecstatic,” Martin said Monday. “No one deserves it more than Chris because of how much he cares, the human being he is, the amount of work he’s put in and how he has sacrificed to help others.”
Though Silva never once played for the Sioux Falls Skyforce, the Heat’s G League team, he was hindered by the two-way contract that states he could only spend 45 days with the NBA team. Silva, who’s appeared in 30 games for the Heat, barely practiced with the Heat to stay under the 45 day limit.
“The day of the game, we always have a shoot-around walk-through,” Silva told The State last week. “I would come to shoot-around and focus and try to learn and memorize the game plan and try to put it in my head and get on the same page as the whole team during the shoot-around. And when the games comes, I just try to remember it and try to apply it to the game and bring the energy to the team, the energy they need to provide them support to anything I can give them.
“I just try to be a boost for the team.”
Silva, who’s averaging 3.5 points and 3.1 rebounds for the Eastern Conference’s third place team, can now fully practice with Erik Spoelstra’s squad.
“I told him three weeks ago, ‘I’ve been waiting for you to just have a sluggish day. I’m waiting for you to come in late one day,’” Spoelstra said of Silva in November. “Late for him is early for everybody else because he’s here before everyone else. I’m waiting for him to be human.”
