Veteran NBA power forward/center Taj Gibson is slated to join his eighth franchise for his 16th season in the league.
Gibson’s agent Mark Bartelstein informs Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN that the 6-foot-9 former USC Trojan has agreed to terms on a one-season, $3.3 million veteran’s minimum contract with the Charlotte Hornets. The deal will compensate Gibson in line with what players with 10 or more years of league experience are permitted to earn on minimum contracts.
Initially selected by the Chicago Bulls with the No. 26 pick in the 2009 NBA Draft as a 24-year-old, Gibson quickly established himself as a formidable defensive presence, earning All-Rookie accolades on a chippy, playoff-bound Chicago squad.
During his Bulls tenure under head coaches Vinny Del Negro, Tom Thibodeau and Fred Hoiberg, Gibson mostly served as a defense-first, energy-shifting sixth man. His best years as a player were enjoyed with the Bulls, who won 50 or more games three times during his run, and made it as far as the Eastern Conference Finals in 2011.
Gibson’s best Bulls squads under Thibodeau — led by Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, Joakim Noah, Luol Deng and later Pau Gasol — ultimately proved to be Eastern Conference also-rans, scrappy, relentless competitors who were never quite good enough to unseat LeBron James‘ Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat teams from the pinnacle of the conference, en route to eight straight Finals appearances from 2011-18 (though Gibson was out of the East by the end of this run). Gibson would finish in the top 10 of Sixth Man of the Year voting three times while with the Bulls.
In 2017, Chicago eventually, senselessly traded Gibson, a then-recent lottery pick Doug McDermott, and an unprotected 2018 second-round draft selection to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for point guard Cameron Payne, big man Joffrey Lauvergne and sharpshooter Anthony Morrow, a pathetically lopsided deal that ridded the Bulls of their best frontcourt defender at that time in Gibson (Noah was long gone at this point), as well as one of their best shooters in McDermott.
As a free agent that subsequent summer, Gibson reunited with Thibodeau again, signing on with the Minnesota Timberwolves. He has since played for the New York Knicks (both before and during Thibodeau’s tenure with that franchise), the Washington Wizards, and, most recently, the Detroit Pistons. Across just 20 contests in 2023-24 with the Knicks and Pistons as a deep-bench player, Gibson posted averages of 1.7 points on 40.5 percent shooting, 1.9 rebounds, and 0.6 assists in 10.2 minutes a night.
Clearly, the Hornets are looking for a steadying veteran locker-room presence to help guide Charlotte’s young charges. Gibson’s run as a serious rotation player may be over, but he is clearly well-respected among the league for his ability to galvanize his colleagues.
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