Drew Peterson, undrafted, signs with Miami Heat
As Chris Livingston walked across the stage, it marked the end of the NBA draft as the Milwaukee Bucks drafted the former Kentucky Wildcat with the 58th and final pick of the night.
But former Trojan Drew Peterson did not have to wait long to find a team, despite going undrafted. Shortly after the draft, Adrian Wojnarowski reported the Miami Heat signed Drew Peterson to an Exhibit 10 contract.
An Exhibit 10 contract is a one-year, minimum salary contract that allows the Heat to convert it to a two-way contract if they do so before the start of the regular season.
As no USC player was drafted, this breaks a streak of five straight years where a Trojan was selected in the NBA Draft. Isaiah Mobley (2022), Evan Mobley (2021), Onyeka Okongwu (2020), Kevin Porter Jr. (2019), Chimezie Metu (2018) and De’Anthony Melton (2018) became the first Trojans drafted since 2011, when the Philadelphia 76ers selected Nikola Vucevic.
Peterson will hope to follow in the footsteps of Jordan McLaughlin, another former USC player who went undrafted. McLaughlin had his best season in his 2019-2020 rookie season with the Minnesota Timberwolves, averaging 7.6 points per game. In the most recent campaign, McLaughlin only averaged 3.7 points.
Peterson’s Premiere Moments
As Peterson played for USC for three seasons, all as a starter, he had many memorable moments. Peterson, who transferred from Rice after his sophomore season, improved all of his numbers between each season at USC as he earned himself a larger role with the team. In his fifth college season, the guard averaged 13.9 PPG, 4.3 APG and 6.2 RPG.
USC and UCLA fans will certainly remember Peterson’s 27-point performance against the Bruins en route to a 67-64 Trojan victory at Galen Center in 2022. It was USC’s fifth straight win over rival-UCLA and certainly helped USC’s tournament resume, as the Bruins were ranked No. 12 at the time.
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In Peterson’s final college season, he and Boogie Ellis were a potent 1-2 scoring punch for the Trojans. While Peterson was dealing with a back injury for the latter half of the season, he still turned in big games, like a career-high 30 points against Cal.
What’s better than Miami?
Well, there isn’t much better than playing for the Heat as an undrafted player. Miami recently fell in the NBA Finals to the Denver Nuggets on the backs of multiple undrafted free agents. Max Strus, Caleb Martin and Gabe Vincent all played important roles on their unlikely run to NBA runner-ups.
While Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo were certainly the stars for the Heat, Vincent scored 23 points to lead Miami to a 111-108 win in Game 2 of the Finals, the Heat’s only win of the series.
Erik Spoelstra, the head coach of the Heat, has become known for doing more with less talent after LeBron James left Miami to return to Cleveland. If anyone can turn an undrafted prospect into an NBA player, it is Spoelstra and the Miami coaching staff.
All three of Strus, Martin and Vincent started their careers with other teams and later signed with the Heat. Unlike that trio, the Heat can now develop Peterson from the start of his career.
