AUGUST 9: Shandong’s deals with Lawson and Motiejunas are now official, according to Pick (Twitter link), who adds that Motiejunas’ pact has a base value of $2.2MM.
AUGUST 8: NBA free agents Ty Lawson and Donatas Motiejunas appear poised to become teammates in China, according to international basketball reporter David Pick, who tweets that both players will head overseas to join the Shandong Golden Stars.
According to Pick (Twitter link), Lawson reached an agreement with Shandong prior to today, striking a deal that will pay him $2.4MM, with bonuses that could push the total value to $3MM. Previously rumored to be joining another CBA team, Lawson is coming off a modest bounce-back season with the Kings, in which he averaged 9.9 PPG and 4.8 APG in 69 contests, making 45.4% of his field goal attempts.
As for Motiejunas, his agreement with Shandong was initially reported by international outlet 15min.lt, as detailed by Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. His deal is believed to be in the $3MM range as well.
Motiejunas had a bizarre year in 2016, having been involved in a February trade that was scuttled due to health concerns, then going through a prolonged restricted free agency that involved another deal falling through. At various times in ’16, it seemed as if Motiejunas would be traded to the Pistons, signed by the Nets, or retained by the Rockets, but he ultimately landed with the Pelicans in January, averaging 4.4 PPG and 3.0 RPG in 34 games for New Orleans.
According to Pick (Twitter link), Shandong offered more than $3MM to Michael Beasley in the hopes of bringing him back, but the former Golden Star is opting to join the Knicks instead.
China help us with NK please
Wait wait wait… for 2.4 mil , wouldn’t Lawson make for an upgrade at backup PG for CLE?!?
Over D Rose? Or do you mean Calderon?
Yes.
Man I hate the Rockets so much right now lol. They screwed over Motiejunas with his deal last year, but I really wish he would’ve just accepted the matched offer from the Rockets. Now he’s making $2 million overseas instead of a 4 year $36 million deal and the Rockets had the financial flexibility to make a deal for CP3, which I doubt would’ve been possible if Motiejunas’ offer sheet was on their payroll. So basically they screwed him over and then later got rewarded with CP3 smh