Amar’e Stoudemire joins Miami Heat on 1-year deal

Amar'e Stoudemire signed a one-year deal with the Miami Heat which is worth $1.5 million, according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.

Stoudemire spent the last three months of last season in Dallas after being bought out by the Knicks in mid-February. No longer the All-Star caliber player he once was, Stoudemire still provided a strong contribution for the Mavericks in 23 games off the bench. He averaged 10.8 points and hit 58 percent of his shots in 16.5 minutes per game. After the season it was reported that the Clippers, Lakers, Mavericks, Spurs and Suns all had interest in signing the 32-year-old forward.

Stoudemire, a six-time All-Star who once averaged 26.0 points per game in a season, was at the heart of Mike D'Antoni's Seven Seconds or Less teams, which helped pave the way for the new style of basketball now seen on NBA courts every night. After entering the NBA straight out of high school and being selected by Suns with the ninth overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft, Phoenix slotted Stoudemire in at center and he and Steve Nash turned into one of the most lethal pick-and-roll combinations the league has ever seen.

Stoudemire played eight years for the Suns before signing a max-contract with the Knicks in 2010. A previous knee injury which cost him nearly all of the 2005-'06 season scared Phoenix away. In his first half-season with the Knicks Stoudemire, once again playing for D'Antoni, performed at an MVP level. But he never fully gelled with Carmelo Anthony, who the Knicks acquired that February. Stoudemire also dealt with various injuries throughout his four-and-a-half-year tenure in New York before being bought out.

With the Heat, Stoudemire will be joining a veteran-heavy lineup with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, who missed much of last season with a lung clot, to go alongside the young talents Goran Draig and Hassan Whiteside. Stoudemire will be a nice complement down low as a backup for Whiteside, who had a breakout season with the Heat last season. Even entering his 13th season, Stoudemire can still provide an offensive spark, which the Heat could use if Bosh and Whiteside are off the court.

This is the second small signing the Heat have made in free agency -- they signed Gerald Green to a similar one-year deal on Thursday.