Yante Maten Signs A Two-Way Contract With The Miami Heat

NBA

Yante Maten Signs A Two-Way Contract With The Miami Heat

Yante Maten spent the past few years dominating the SEC. Now he’s gonna get the chance to do that at the next level. He has agreed to a two-way deal with the Miami Heat.

What Does Yante Maten Bring To The Table?

Yante Maten is a skilled big man who has the capability to dominate the G-League next season. He was one of the best players in college basketball each of the past three seasons.

Maten impacts the game in a variety of ways. He averaged 1.6 blocks per game over his college career. For someone who is just 6’8″ that is a good number to have.

His ability to score in a variety of ways was tough for opposing bigs to guard while he was at Georgia. He could dominate you inside while also being able to score from the perimeter.

His 40% shooting from three over his college career is a bit flawed. He didn’t shoot much from deep in his first two seasons. In his senior season, he shot 2.6 threes per game and he made 34% of them. That is still a good number to have heading into the NBA.

Maten plays with a tough mindset. He averaged 8.6 rebounds per game in his senior season. His free throw numbers really stand out. He takes a lot of them and he makes a high percentage. He shot 7.3 per game this season and made 80% of them.

He’s just a handful to guard. Opposing G-League bigs will struggle to guard him similar to the way some of the college bigs did. It’s unlikely we see much of Maten with the Heat much this season.

It’s hard to get a good read on whether Maten will be a good pro. He’s got the toughness and the skill for sure. Being an undersized four is tough though. He’s gonna come in and work hard with the Heat though. Based off what we saw from him at Georgia, I wouldn’t count him out of anything when he puts his mind to it.

 

Credit: Chris Kern