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Charlotte Bobcats General Manager Rod Higgins announced today that the team has signed free agent guard Shaun Livingston. The five-year NBA veteran averaged 6.9 points, 3.6 assists and 2.2 rebounds in 22.0 minutes in 36 games last season with Oklahoma City and Washington. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“We’re excited to add a talented young player like Shaun to our team,” Higgins said. “He is a long, athletic point guard who we anticipate being a significant part of our rotation.”
The 6-7 Livingston was originally selected with the fourth overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers. He has career averages of 7.2 points, 4.4 assists and 2.9 rebounds in 196 games with the Clippers, Heat, Thunder and Wizards. He has scored in double figures 57 times and tallied double-figure assists in 12 games in his career.
Livingston signed with the Wizards on February 26, 2010 and saw action in 26 of the team’s final 27 games of the season, averaging 9.2 points, 4.4 assists and 2.2 rebounds in 25.6 minutes, while shooting .535 from the field. Livingston started the season’s final 18 games, averaging 11.2 points, 4.9 assists and 2.8 rebounds in 30.7 minutes. He scored in double figures in eight of the last nine games, including a career-high 25 points on April 9 at Boston, and recorded seven or more assists in seven of the final nine games.
Livingston averaged career highs of 9.3 points, 5.1 assists and 3.4 rebounds for the Clippers in 2006-07 before suffering tears to the ACL, MCL, PCL and lateral meniscus in his left knee, as well as patella and tibia/femoral dislocations, on Feb. 26 against the Bobcats that caused him to miss the final 26 games of the season and all of 2007-08. He later played four games with Miami in 2008-09 and 18 games with Oklahoma City during the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons before signing with Washington.
The Charlotte Bobcats, who became the NBA’s 30th team when they joined the league in 2004-05, finished the 2009-10 season with a franchise-best 44-38 overall record (31-10 at home) and first-ever playoff appearance.
