Detroit Pistons sign 6-foot-7 wing Luis Montero to two-way contract

The Detroit Pistons have signed Luis Montero to a two-way contract and will likely be assigned to Detroit’s G-League affiliate the Grand Rapids Drive, according to HoopsHype.

The two-way contract allows Detroit to retain the rights to Montero without him taking up a roster spot or counting against the salary cap.

Montero hails from the Dominican Republic and was an undrafted player in 2015 that plied his trade at the junior college level. After starring at Westchester Community College in 2013-14 as a do-it-all point guard, he hit his first stumbling block. Westchester was forced to cancel their following season as investigators looked into some shade practices involving player transcripts.

He ended up getting a deal with the Portland Trail Blazers and appeared in 22 games, mostly as a small forward. He played with the Reno Bighorns in the G-League last season where he averaged 8.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists.

He is also coming off of a summer league appearance as a member of the Sacramento Kings where it was difficult to get playing time on the wings so he spent a lot of time at point guard. He averaged 4.4 points, 5 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.2 steals in 20.8 minutes per game. He only had 19 shots in all of summer league, but he apparently hit 45.4 percent from the perimeter.

He seems to be a player similar to Michael Gbinije, who was recently released by the Pistons. Like Gbinije he is a long-armed wing with some nascent point guard skills. In reading up on him he has a reputation as a decent defensive prospect.

He’s already 24 so I’m not sure how much growth potential he has, but he also hasn’t had much of an opportunity to play high level basketball. The best case scenario is he is a multi-positional wing defender who can learn how to hit a 3 at a reasonable clip and has some ball handling skill. The worst-case scenario is none of that happens and we never hear about him again.

For two-way contracts that is about what we should expect.