NBA’s Spurs sign former Alabama center to 2-way deal

NBA’s Spurs sign former Alabama center to 2-way deal

When San Antonio tips off its 2023-24 NBA season on Wednesday, former Alabama center Charles Bediako will be on the Spurs’ opening-night roster.

On Monday, San Antonio announced Bediako had signed a two-way contract with the team.

Each NBA team can sign up to three players to two-way contracts. A two-way player can be moved between the NBA roster and the team’s NBA G League affiliate without having to pass through waivers and can play up to 50 games for the big team.

The Spurs’ G League affiliate is the Austin Spurs.

Bediako joined San Antonio as an undrafted rookie this summer.

The 7-footer played in the five games of the Spurs’ NBA 2K24 Summer League team in Las Vegas in July. He averaged 5.1 points and 5.2 rebounds in 13.1 minutes per game.

Bediako played in two of San Antonio’s preseason games this month. He had four points and one rebound in 8:49 of court time.

Bediako played two seasons at Alabama. In the 2022-23 season, he averaged 6.4 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.8 blocked shots per game as the Crimson Tide won the SEC regular-season and tournament championships and earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Alabama won two games in the tourney before San Diego State upended the Tide on the Aztecs’ way to the national-championship game.

Bediako was an All-SEC Tournament selection.

Four other former Alabama standouts are on two-way contracts: JD Davison with the Boston Celtics, Keon Ellis with the Sacramento Kings, Braxton Key with the Denver Nuggets and Josh Primo with the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Spurs and the Dallas Mavericks will square off at 8:30 p.m. CDT Wednesday at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.