Former South Carolina basketball star signs a new NBA contract

Earlier this week, former South Carolina basketball guard Ta'Lon Cooper signed his first NBA contract, inking an Exhibit 10 deal with the Orlando Magic after going undrafted in the 2024 NBA Draft.

As it turned out, though, Cooper was not the only former Gamecock guard who would get an NBA contract this week.

On Wednesday, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that former South Carolina basketball guard PJ Dozier was signing a one-year deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Dozier has been a guard for most of his basketball career, but Woj's report called him a forward, perhaps indicating a future role more at small forward than at shooting guard.

Dozier has been in professional basketball since leaving the Gamecocks after his sophomore season. Despite expectations to the contrary, he was not picked in the 2017 NBA Draft, but Dozier was talented enough to earn short stints with the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, Boston Celtics, and Philadelphia 76ers before settling in as an important bench piece with the Denver Nuggets who could serve as a solid secondary creator and a good defender who could guard multiple positions.

Unfortunately for Dozier, he tore his ACL with Denver, and after being traded back to the Celtics and spending a short time with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Sacramento Kings, Dozier found himself overseas. He had a good 2023-2024 season in Serbia and performed well enough in EuroLeague games to get another shot in the NBA with the 'Wolves.

During his South Carolina basketball career, PJ Dozier is best known as being a key player on the 2016-2017 Final Four team and saved some of his best games for that magical run in March. Dozier was one of several combo guards for those Gamecocks, but he often was the de facto point guard, giving his game an added layer that has helped his professional career.