BOZICH | Released by Spurs, can Romeo Langford turn around his NBA career? | Sports

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — There is the two-year deal for more than $6 million Eric Gordon signed to make one last push for an NBA championship ring with the Phoenix Suns. At 34 years old and after 15 seasons, Gordon still matters.

There is the $3.1 million contract Cody Zeller earned from New Orleans after he made bench contributions for the Miami Heat in their NBA Finals run.

There is the $9.4 million Victor Oladipo will get from the Oklahoma City Thunder, who acquired him from Miami.

There is the two-year, $5.3 million deal Thomas Bryant received from Miami after he won a championship ring as a reserve with the Denver Nuggets.

Hoosiers are hurrying for their millions everywhere.

Anybody missing from the list of prominent former Indiana University basketball players making their way through the NBA?

Sure.

What’s going to happen to Romeo Langford?

Where will he play in the NBA next season? Or will he be pushed into taking his talent overseas?

Can Langford, 23, still deliver on the dazzling promise he showed in New Albany, where the high school court was named in his honor and the city put his name on a prominent outdoor playground?

Did Langford err by jumping to the NBA after one solid season at IU without smoothing the issues with his jump shot?

Or should going to the NBA ASAP always be considered the right move because of the considerable money Langford has earned?

Stay tuned. The next three months, until NBA training camps open, should be fascinating for Langford and his large pocket of fans in New Albany.

Four years after he was drafted No. 14, the final pick in the lottery, by the Boston Celtics, Langford is a man without a team, a contract or secure future.

The four-year rookie contract worth more than $16.5 million that Langford earned after one season playing for Archie Miller at IU expired at the end of the 2023 season.

After acquiring Langford in a trade in February 2022, the San Antonio Spurs did not extend a qualifying offer to Langford last week.

Translation: The Spurs did not want to be obligated to match any deal another team offered. Their rebuild will continue without Langford.

Typically, NBA players start to cash in big after four seasons in the league.

Tyler Herro, the former Kentucky guard taken one pick ahead of Langford in 2019, has a deal that will pay him $120 million over the next four seasons.

Coby White, taken seventh in that draft, re-signed with the Bulls for three years and $33 million. D’Andre Hunter of Virginia, will be paid $90 million over the next four seasons by Atlanta.

I won’t mention the R.J. Barrett and Cameron Johnson contracts. Just know they’re king-sized.

Langford has $0.00 guaranteed. His agents at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) will have to convince at least one NBA general manager to invite Langford to training camp.

For the first time since grade school, Langford will have to make a team in training camp. If he succeeds, he will earn a minimum of $1.84 million.

He is free to sign with any team that wants him — just as he was free to sign a letter of intent with any college program that wanted him when Langford was a senior at New Albany (Ind.) High School in 2018.

Except then nearly everybody wanted him. Langford picked IU over Vanderbilt, Kansas, Louisville and a string of other schools.

Now the market for Langford is murky and uncertain.

At 22-60, the Spurs tied for the second-worst record in the NBA last season. Langford earned 21 starts in a season where he was limited to 43 of 82 games because of injuries.

The issue is the same issue that some skeptical scouts had about Langford during his only season in Bloomington.

Can he shoot the basketball, especially from deep?

At 6 feet, 4 inches tall, Langford must be able to do at least one thing exceptionally well to hold his place against the best of the best.

Langford has not done that in the NBA. His 3-point shooting percentage has not been inspiring— only 26.2% last season, 28.8% over four NBA seasons. Even his free throw percentage — 69.6% last season, 65.9% — concerning.

Langford earned solid marks as a defender as well as for rebounding and being a team guy. People in New Albany and at Indiana still praise his character.

The shot needs work. Langford will turn 24 in October. There is time. There are plenty of stories about players who have been cut or released and then forced their way back into prominence. Fix the shooting and fix the career path.

That is where Romeo Langford is now, forced to prove himself as a basketball player more than he has ever had to prove himself in his career.

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