Center Jeremy Tyler has signed with the Shanxi Zhongyu Brave Dragons of the Chinese Basketball Association, his agents at Octagon Sports tell Enea Trapani of Sportando and confirm on their website. Adrian Wojnarowski reported a few days ago that Tyler had reached a deal to play in China and that he’d asked for the Lakers to release him from his non-guaranteed contract, a wish the team granted, but the identity of his Chinese team was unknown. It’s unclear how long Tyler’s contract runs or just how much he’ll earn, but with the short length of the Chinese season, he’ll likely have a chance to hook on with an NBA team for the stretch run of 2014/15.
Tyler spent the past month with the Lakers after the Kings let him go shortly following the trade that brought him to Sacramento from the Knicks. He played in 41 games for New York after signing December 31st, averaging 3.6 points in 9.7 minutes per night. The now 23-year-old has appeared in the NBA in each of the past three seasons after the then-Bobcats made him the 39th overall pick in 2011.
The Dragons signed center Daniel Orton earlier this month, but they also have fellow NBA veteran Von Wafer, and the league’s rules on international players prohibit the team from playing three Americans, as Trapani points out. So, that suggests a corresponding move is in order, though the Dragons’ plans are unclear.
I believe that since the Shanxi Dragons finished with a bottom-5 record last year, they are allowed 3 foreign players for this year.
Ooo, nevermind. I re-read the policy for the bottom-5 teams. It says those teams can have an extra non-North American player only, but he has no minutes restrictions. It appears the Shanxi team has Zaid Abbas from Jordan, who I presume will be that 3rd extra non-North American player.
This team also had Byron Mullens! Yeah, I suppose they’ll have to part with either Von Wafer or Orton.