Former Kansas State guard Rodney McGruder signed a partially guaranteed three-year contract with the Miami Heat on Thursday. McGruder is currently playing on the Heat’s summer league team in Orlando, and will also play for the team next week in Las Vegas.
“It means everything to me, and it’s tough to put together words right now because I’m ecstatic,” McGruder said in a phone interview. “It’s a lifelong goal (to play in the NBA). For them to think enough of me to even give me an opportunity to keep pursuing, that is everything.”
McGruder (6-foot-5, 205 pounds) has come close to making an NBA roster before after going to training camps with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Boston Celtics, and is playing the best basketball of his professional career.