The curious case of Donatas Motiejunas

In 2014-2015 Lithuanian big man Donatas Motiejunas had the best season of his career, averaging 12 points and 6 rebounds per game, shooting 36% from three-point line. After that great season, Motiejunas started to have serious back problems and the hype around him began to decrease day after day. Last season Motiejunas played only 37 games and Rockets traded him to the Detroit Pistons at the deadline in exchange of a future first-round pick. But the trade was rescinded a couple of days later following a failed physical by Motiejūnas.

The player entered into this off-season as a restricted free-agent but the market for him was way lower than expected because of his physical issues. The negotiations between Rockets and Motiejunas' agent, B.J. Armstrong, never gained any traction, with Houston not willing to offer anything more than the value of the qualifying offer, 4.4 mln dollars. While Motiejunas was seeking a multi-year deal, other teams were scared by his physical situations and didn't present any interesting deal to the player.

With the deadline of October 1st already passed, Motiejunas is no longer able to sign the qualifying offer, worth 4.4 mln, but is still a restricted free-agent, meaning that Houston has the right to match any offer that the player will receive in the coming weeks.

At this point, however, Motiejunas' options look very limited. He may sign a new deal with the Rockets but, as we mentioned before, Houston doesn't seem avalaible to offer him anything more than the qualifying offer's value. Only three NBA teams have the space under the cap to make an offer sheet to Motiejunas: Sixers, Suns and Nets. None of the three teams expressed real interest so far. Sixers and Suns have already a loaded frontcourt, Nets, despite the cap space avalaible, didn't make any offer for Motiejunas so far. It's important to note that Motiejunas can sign an offer sheet only until March 1st, after that date his only option is to re-sign with his current team or remain unsigned for the rest of the season.

Another option for Motiejunas could be signing a deal overseas and waiting for a better deal in the NBA, just like Wilson Chandler did during the lockout in 2011. But also this option looks difficult at this point of the season. In addition the relationship between Rockets front-office and B.J. Armstrong, Motiejunas' agent, doesn't look very good. On October 1st Armstrong used his Twitter profile to send a clear messagge to Rockets GM Daryl Morey

When analytics can measure human behavior, then and only then will I find them useful

— BJ Armstrong (@bjarmstrong) 1 ottobre 2016

Morey is well known as analytics lover and agents are not exactly in love with GMs with that kind of attitude, just ask to former Sixers GM Sam Hinkie. Each day Donatas Motiejunas isn’t with the Houston Rockets, the playing time he would have earned as a reserve power forward goes to someone else.

Sam Dekker would probably be the reserve power-forward when the season begins, while Motiejunas' future looks cloudy. A strange fate for a player that looked on the verge of a bright future in the league just two years ago.