Morris agrees to 3year deal; Welsh signs twoway contract

Monte Morris has agreed to a threeyear, $4.8 million contract with the Nuggets, a league source confirmed to The Denver Post Thursday evening. The first two years of the deal are guaranteed.

The signing will convert Morris from a twoway deal to a full NBA contract and fill the final spot on Denver’s 15man roster.

Also, secondround draft pick Thomas Welsh has signed a twoway contract, the team announced Thursday afternoon.

Morris, a 2017 secondround draft pick, played in three games for the Nuggets last season but spent most of his time with the G League’s Rio Grande Valley Vipers. He averaged 17.8 points, 6.5 assists and 4.5 rebounds in 37 games in the for Rio Grande Valley.

Morris began the offseason in contention to be Denver’s backup point guard and put together a strong summer league performance, averaging 17.5 points, 6.3 assists and 3.3 rebounds in four games in Las Vegas.

Denver then signed veteran point guard Isaiah Thomas to a oneyear, veteran’s minimum contract earlier this week. Thomas is coming off a serious hip injury that forced him to miss much of last season.

“I’m very high on myself talentwise and skill set(wise), because I’m here with all the coaches putting in the time with my game,” Morris said following a summer league practice. “I’m trying to go out there and make everybody else believe that I can play at this level.”

Welsh, the 58th overall pick in last month’s NBA draft, averaged 12.6 points, 10.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists during his senior season at UCLA. He averaged six points, four rebounds and one assist in two summer league games for Denver, but missed time in Las Vegas with a shoulder injury.