7:00pm: Pick has informed Hoops Rumors that the $2MM figure first reported for Blatche’s deal is correct.
12:25pm: Andy Miller, Blatche’s agent, has confirmed the signing, Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv tweets.
12:08pm: The deal is for approximately $2.5MM, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports notes (Twitter link).
11:55am: According to his sources, David Pick of Eurobasket (Twitter link) reports that Blatche has signed the deal, and it is for one-year, $2MM.
9:52am: Free agent big man Andray Blatche is close to signing a deal to play in the Chinese Basketball Association, Sohu.com reports (translation by Enea Trapani of Sportando). The interested team is the Xinjiang Flying Tigers, who have already inked Jordan Crawford, and were in negotiations with Lester Hudson, before things fell apart.
There were rumors that the Flying Tigers were interested in signing Aron Baynes, who has also been linked to Yao Ming’s Shanghai Sharks. According to Hupu.com, Xinjiang’s management confirmed the addition of a big man who participated in the FIBA World Cup, but officials denied the deal was with Baynes, so it looks like Blatche is their target.
Blatche is an unrestricted free agent after averaging 11.2 PPG and 5.3 RPG in 22.2 minutes per contest with an 18.8 PER for the Nets last season. The Heat, Raptors, and Clippers had all been rumored to be interested in the 6’11”, 27 year-old. If Blatche does indeed sign with the CBA, he would still have an opportunity to sign with an NBA team late in the season, since the Chinese League ends play in February, with the playoffs generally concluding in mid-to-late March. For more on Blatche, check out Chuck Myron’s Free Agent Stock Watch profile on the player.
not a bad deal for blatche.. get his 2mill and most likely will sign on with an nba team after his season in china is over