ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — After announcing over the weekend they had signed guard Maverick Rowan, the St. John’s Edge has 13 players on their pre-season roster, more than enough for a game-day lineup in the National Basketball League of Canada.
However, the Edge were still shy one Canadian. Of the 13 that had been signed, only four were domestic players and NBLC rules say each team must have five Canadians in its lineup in order to dress a full team of 12 for each game.
The Edge may have found their fifth Canadian by way of a trade.
On Monday, St. John’s announced it had dealt the NBLC rights to Shaquille Keith to the Windsor Express for the rights to Calgary native Tyrrel Tate.
Official: Edge complete trade with the Windsor Express.
— St. John's Edge (@stjohnsedge) November 18, 2019
Welcome to the Rock Tyrrel Tate!
Release: https://t.co/pnmDdZKUOk#WelcomeToTheRock | #DefendTheRock pic.twitter.com/2js7BiLVx3
Tate, a 27-year-old forward, has played five professional seasons since finishing his collegiate career at Fayetteville State University in Arkansas. The 6-5, 215-pound Tate played three of those seasons in the NBLC, first with Moncton and in 2018-19 with the Sudbury Five and Express.
In all, he’s played 110 NLBC games, averaging a little over 10 points a game, with his best stretch coming during his time in Windsor in 2018-19, when he averaged more than 14.5 points per game in 32 contests.
Tate also played for the Fraser Valley Bandits of Abbotsford, B.C., in the off-season Canadian Elite Basketball League this past summer, and has appeared in 47 games in the G League, the NBA developmental circuit. He was looking to get back in the G league this season, but was a recent training-camp cut by the Capital City Go-Go, the affiliate of the NBA’s Washington Wizards.
It remains to be seen if Tate will be signed by the Edge, but according to St. John’s coach Steve Marcus, his rights are a solid return for Keith, who had indicated he wanted to return to Windsor, where he had played for three years. That was before last season, when he suited up in 16 games for the Edge, for whom he averaged more than 10 points and nearly five rebounds per game as a player who could be used in multiple positions.
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