New Orleans Pelicans big man Donatas Motiejunas thought his free agency debacle was just as ridiculous as the rest of us did.
In an interview this week with Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders, Motiejunas opened up about the agonizing process he went through over the last several months.
“Honestly, you can say it was business stuff, but from my side, I’m a basketball player, I just want to play,” said the Lithuanian. “Being involved in that business situation, it was one of the worst experiences of my life that I’ve had. I would say, from any basketball player, we work every day, we put our sweat, we put our tears, we put our blood on the floor, try to help and make teams better, so when someone acts with you like this, it’s just wrong.”
The 26-year-old Motiejunas was in a messy contract dispute with the Houston Rockets for many months. He became a restricted free agent this past summer but went the entire offseason without receiving an offer sheet from another team (thanks largely to concerns over his back that voided a trade to the Pistons last February) and was unwilling to accept the qualifying offer that Houston put on the table. Motiejunas finally got a $37 million offer sheet from the Brooklyn Nets in December but the Rockets chose to match and retain him. That triggered another nasty game of cat and mouse wherein Motiejunas failed to show up for his team physical, resulting in another round of failed negotiations before Houston eventually threw in the towel and renounced their rights to Motiejunas. He finally signed a one-year deal for the veteran’s minimum with the Pelicans at the start of January. Feeling light-headed yet?
In the end, Motiejunas found himself the loser of nearly $40 million and was forced to bet on himself in the hopes of recovering some of that money on the open market next offseason. But he did manage to make his debut with New Orleans earlier this week and could put this whole headache behind him if he can just stay healthy and prove his worth for the remainder of the season.
