The Phoenix Suns on Friday signed guard Dionte Christmas, who averaged 10.1 points for the team's entry in the Las Vegas Summer League.
A 6-foot-5, 205-pound guard, Christmas joins the Suns after spending the last four seasons playing in Israel (Hapoel Afula), Turkey (Mersin), the Czech Republic (Nymburk),
Greece (PAOK, Rethymno), Russia (CSKA Moscow) and Italy (Montepaschi
Siena).
“We’re excited to add Dionte to our roster,” said Suns first-year general manager Ryan McDonough. “He was a key contributor for our Las Vegas Summer League team, and his scoring ability, leadership and toughness will help us this season.”
Last year, with Rethymno of the Greece A-1 League, Christmas averaged 18.6 points to lead the league in scoring. After being added to the Suns' Summer League team, he averaged
10.1 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 20.8 minutes while coming off the bench in all seven contests. He shot 46.3 percent from the field in had four games in double figures in scoring, including three with at least 15 points, as the Suns earned runner-up honors.
A four-year standout at Temple, Christmas averaged 15.7 points and 4.4 rebounds in 130 career games and posted at least 19.5 points per game in each of his final three seasons with the Owls. He was named first-team All-Atlantic in both 2008 and 2009, and also earned Atlantic 10 Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors in 2008 and 2009 as he led the Owls to consecutive conference tournament titles.
The Suns’ roster now stands at 17 players.
