MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — The next shot Jevon Carter takes will be as a member of the Phoenix Suns.
The former West Virginia standout, along with veteran shooter Kyle Korver were traded by the Memphis Grizzlies Wednesday to Phoenix in exchange for guard De’Anthony Melton and forward Josh Jackson and second-round picks in 2020 and 2021.
The trade was first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
As a second-round pick by Memphis in 2018, Carter signed a two-year guaranteed contract that will pay him $1,445,697 this upcoming season. In 2020-21, Carter is scheduled to earn $1,922,425, but the third year of his deal is not guaranteed.
As a rookie last season, Carter appeared in 39 games and scored 4.4 points per game, while shooting 30.3 percent from the field.
He was scheduled to play with Memphis on its summer league team in Las Vegas beginning Friday. It is unclear if Carter will play on the Suns’ summer league team, because all trades and free agent signings don’t become official until 6 p.m. Sunday.
Phoenix opens in the Las Vegas summer league at 11:30 p.m. against Denver on ESPN.
It is also unclear what role Carter would serve in Phoenix, which finished last in the Western Conference with a 19-63 record last season.
While listed as a small forward, All-Star Devin Booker is one of the Suns’ primary ball-handlers and he led Phoenix with 6.8 assists per game last season.
Phoenix also signed veteran point guard Ricky Rubio in free agency and traded for the rights of Virginia point guard Ty Jerome, who was the No. 24 overall pick in this year’s draft and is also under a guaranteed contract.
If the Suns release Carter — and if he cleared waivers — Phoenix would take a $1.4 million hit to its salary cap.
In that case, Carter would then become a free agent and would have the right to negotiate with any team on a new contract.
If another team picked up Carter off waivers, that team would assume his original contract signed in Memphis.
As a four-year standout at West Virginia, Carter guided the Mountaineers to three Sweet 16 appearances in the NCAA tournament. He is the school’s all-time leader with 330 steals and was also the national defensive player of the year in 2017 and 2018.
He scored 1,758 points and added 559 assists over his college career.
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