Multiyear Deal Lures Ferry to NBA

The NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers coaxed Danny Ferry back from Italy, signing him to a multiyear contract Friday.

Terms of the deal were not revealed, but the former Duke star’s contract with the Cavaliers was thought to be worth at least $2.5 million a year. Ferry made $2 million last season with Il Messaggero Roma in the Italian professional basketball league.

Ferry played in Italy last year rather than sign with the Clippers. The Clippers had made him the second selection in last June’s NBA draft. Sacramento took Louisville’s Pervis Ellison with the first pick.

Cleveland got the rights to Ferry in a trade that sent Ron Harper and three draft picks to the Clippers in November.

“I have a very high regard for Danny Ferry as a player,” Cleveland General Manager Wayne Embry said. “I felt that he should have been the No. 1 pick in last year’s draft, and that he would have been the first pick in this year’s draft.”

In the trade last November, the Clippers got Cleveland’s first-round picks in 1990 and ‘92, and a second-round pick in 1991. The Cavaliers, besides getting the rights to Ferry, got Reggie Williams, who was later released.

Ferry had to advise Il Messaggero Roma before July 1 whether he would be returning next season.

In four years at Duke, the 6-foot-10, 230-pound Ferry averaged 15.1 points and seven rebounds a game. As a senior, he averaged 22.6 points and 7.4 rebounds.