Recently released Sixers forward Andrei Kirilenko hinted that his NBA career is over in comments he made after joining CSKA Moscow, as Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops.net relays.
“I am glad to be back to my favorite team, where I played in the beginning of my career, then in the middle of it,” Kirilenko said. “It’s great that I got this chance and I was happy to use it. I understand that the time has come to think about quitting as a pro player and in my opinion it is better to do it in my dear club’s uniform.”
It would have been hard to imagine such an abrupt ending for the 34-year-old in 2013, when he turned down a player option worth $10.219MM from the Timberwolves, but it’s been largely downhill for him since he signed a discount deal with the Nets that summer. Here’s more news related to Eastern Conference teams:
- The Cavs aren’t signing Kendrick Perkins with the thought that he’ll have the same sort of role he played this season for the Thunder, according to Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal. Instead, he’ll simply be an “insurance policy” in case another big man is unable to play, Lloyd writes. Cleveland is set to ink Perkins today once he clears waivers.
- A desire for more athleticism helped prompt the Nets to swap Kevin Garnett for Thaddeus Young, who’s ecstatic about having been sent to Brooklyn, as Newsday’s Roderick Boone details. Young has an early termination option worth as much as nearly $10.222MM for next season.
- The deadline trade that sent Isaiah Canaan to Philadelphia thrust him into a chance at significant playing time for the first time in his career, and coach Brett Brown is impressed so far, as Cody Taylor of Basketball Insiders examines. Canaan, like many on the Sixers roster, nonetheless has little job security, since less than $758K of his minimum salary is guaranteed for next season.
so with canaan gone who will dwight molest now?