The ugly situation between forward Donatas Motiejunas and the Houston Rockets took yet another ugly turn on Thursday. It could also be on the verge of coming to a culmination.
Mere days after matching the Brooklyn Nets’ four-year, $37 million offer sheet to the restricted free agent, the Rockets have reportedly renounced their rights on him.
Rockets renounce their rights to Donatas Motiejunas. He will become an unrestricted free agent.
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) December 15, 2016
This means that Motiejunas is set to become an unrestricted free agent. Unfortunately for the 26-year-old power forward, he’s now unable to sign with the Nets.
Now, nearly two months into the season, it stands to reason that Motiejunas won’t be receiving any lucrative long-term deals. There are less than a handful of NBA teams out there who can afford to throw one his way, the Nets being one of them.
We’re now not too entirely sure why the Rockets matched said offer sheet in the first place. Though, that could have to do with the fact that Motiejunas refused to report to the team after it matched the Nets’ offer. The difference there seems to be financial and represents about $6 million.
Motiejunas averaged 6.2 points and 2.9 rebounds while shooting at a 44 percent clip from the field last season. He’s yet to play a game this year.