Former Devil Parks Signs With Miami

Former Blue Devil standout Cherokee Parks, who became a free agent after the Clippers declined to extend his contract after the season, has found another franchise willing to take him on.

Parks was signed by the Miami Heat to compete with Loren Woods, Samaki Walker and Ike Austin for time behind starting center Brian Grant.

Cherokee appeared in the 30 games last year for Los Angeles, averaging 6.3 points and 4.4 rebounds.

He missed 29 games due to back spasms during three different stints on the injured list. Parks scored a season-high 18 points on March 12th at Houston and pulled down a season-high 10 rebounds vs New Orleans on March 3rd.

The Heat become Parks’ sixth team since entering the league after being drafted as the 12th overall pick in the 1995 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks.

The former Duke standout was traded to Minnesota in his second season before being signed by the Vancouver Grizzles as a free agent on January 22, 1999. He was then traded to the Clippers before signing with the San Antonio Spurs as a free agent in August of 2001. One year later Parks signed with the Clippers again, before inking with the Heat on Wednesday.

Parks averaged 12.5 points and 6.7 rebounds over his four-year college career at Duke University. He played in 131 games during that time and finished his career ranked second on Duke's all-time blocked shots list with 221.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.