The Brooklyn Nets signed former Portland Trail Blazers forward Trendon Watford on Thursday, filling their final roster spot. Like recent signing Darius Bazley, the deal is a standard, non-guaranteed contract.

Watford played the last two seasons with Portland after going undrafted in 2021 out of LSU. He averaged 7.4 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists on 56 percent shooting in 19 minutes per game last season.

Watford is somewhat similar to Bazley in terms of player archetype. He has good size and ball-handling ability at 6-foot-8, which allows him to play anywhere from small forward to center. He has the quickness and dexterity to take slower bigs off the dribble, with the size to overpower smaller wings and guards. While he improved from 3-point range last season (39.1 percent on 1.0 attempts per game), the 22-year-old is not a true shooting threat, likely positioning him as a small-ball 5 in the NBA long-term.

Watford found success in that role with Portland last season, playing over half of his minutes at center. His high-level touch on floaters, among other things, earned him an appearance in Zach Lowe's “10 NBA Things” column.

“Portland has something in Watford. He's providing steady work at power forward and as a very undersized center,” Lowe wrote. “Watford reads the game, and moves his feet well enough to switch some on defense. He fights on the glass. He has gorgeous touch on floaters. That is most useful after catching pocket passes… He has nailed 51% from floater range.

“Watford probably tops out as a solid backup, but that's a nice find.”

Watford gets off his patented floater in a variety of ways. The most intriguing of which, as it pertains to his long-term outlook, is on rolls to the rim off high ball screens:

He has the quickness and instincts to beat slower bigs on his way to the shot:

He also uses his size and body control to overpower guards and get into the lane:

Or he can work to his spots when given space off doubles, rotations or offensive boards:

Watford continues a youth movement for Brooklyn this offseason, joining Bazley (23), Dennis Smith Jr. (25) and Lonnie Walker IV (24) as the team's free-agent signings.

His deal brings the Nets to 13 guaranteed standard contracts, two non-guaranteed standard contracts, two two-way contracts and one Exhibit 10 contract. Brooklyn can still sign one two-way and two Exhibit 10 contracts ahead of training camp.