Former Lakers Guard Signs Long-Term Deal with West Nemesis

A former Los Angeles guard is inking a long-term deal with another West club.

Jan 17, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; The Los Angeles Lakers logo at center court at the Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

After winning his first NBA championships with the Boston Celtics last season, shooting guard Svi Mykhailiuk has signed a four-year, $15 million contract with the Utah Jazz. Mykhailiuk’s agent, Michael Lelchitski, shared the news of Mykhailiuk move with ESPN’s NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowki, who announced it via X.

Free agent F Svi Mykhailiuk has agreed on a four-year, $15 million deal with the Utah Jazz, agent Michael Lelchitski of @SIGSports tells ESPN. He played 41 games for the NBA champion Boston Celtics last season. pic.twitter.com/kfUMaN9nM8

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 9, 2024

The Ukrainian guard reached free agency after the championship season with the Celtics. This accomplishment made Mykhailiuk the second Ukrainian player in league history to win an NBA ring after Slava Medvedenko. Medvedenko won back-to-back NBA championships with the Lakers in 2001 and 2002. 

The championship also made Mykhailiuk the 16th NBA champion from the University of Kansas and the third consecutive Jayhawk NBA champion. He followed in the footsteps of Golden State Warriors’ Andrew Wiggins (2022) and Denver Nuggets’ Christian Braun (2023). 

The 2024 season will mark a decade-long career for Mykhailiuk. Across ten NBA seasons, the Jazz will be the eighth team Mykhailiuk has played for. In addition to the Celtics, Mykhailiuk has played for the Los Angeles Lakers, the Detroit Pistons, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Toronto Raptors, the New York Knicks, and the Charlotte Hornets.

He began his professional career in the league in the 2018-19 season with the Lakers. The Los Angeles team drafted the former Kansas standout as the No. 47 overall pick in the second round of the 2018 draft. 

In his rookie season, Mykhailiuk averaged 3.3 points, 0.8 assists, and 0.9 rebounds with a 33.3 field goal percentage and 31.8 three-point percentage. 

Since then, he has shown immense improvement with his best season being in 2022-23 with the Hornets. While playing for Charlotte, Mykhailiuk averaged 10.6 points, 2.7 assists, and 2.4 rebounds while logging a 44.1 field goal percentage and 40.4 three-point percentage.

With the exception of the Pistons, Mykhailiuk played for each team for only one season and some for not even a full season. He left the Lakers after playing 39 games to join the Pistons in his rookie season, where he played three games with Detroit for the remainder of the season. 

In his only full season with Detroit, Mykhailiuk appeared in 56 games while starting in 27. He averaged nine points, 1.9 assists and 1.9 rebounds while recording a 41 field goal percentage and 40.4 three-point percentage.

As Mykhailiuk enters his 10th NBA season, he will be joining one of the Western Conference rivals of the team that originally drafted him.

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