Pargo to play in Russia
BEIJING – New Orleans Hornets free agent guard Jannero Pargo, a valued sixth man, has signed a one-year contract with Moscow Dynamo worth $3.8 million, sources told Yahoo! Sports.
Once again, an American-born player with options in the NBA has chosen to take a more lucrative offer overseas. Pargo is the second NBA player to sign with Dynamo this summer, joining ex-New Jersey Nets forward Bostjan Nachbar. They will play for American-born coach, David Blatt, who was hired to take over the team.
Pargo, 28, had developed into a dangerous bench scorer for the Hornets and attracted the interest of several teams, including the San Antonio Spurs and Atlanta Hawks. New Orleans wanted to keep him – and Pargo's preference was to stay – but the Hornets had invested too much available money in free agent James Posey to make a strong enough bid.
The lure of guaranteed money in Russia trumped the most serious bids made by the Spurs and Hawks.
Pargo averaged 8.1 points in 18.7 minutes in the regular season, but played well in the Hornets Western Conference playoff run. He had 30 points in a Western Conference playoff Game 3 against the Dallas Mavericks, and 18 points in Game 7 of the conference semifinals against the Spurs. He averaged more than 10 points a game in the postseason.
