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Houston Rockets: What’s Next For Donatas Motiejunas?

By Brian K. Patterson

May 12, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets forward Donatas Motiejunas (20) listens as the Los Angeles Clippers call a timeout in game five of the second round of the NBA Playoffs at Toyota Center. Rockets won 124 to 103. Mandatory Credit: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports
May 12, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets forward Donatas Motiejunas (20) listens as the Los Angeles Clippers call a timeout in game five of the second round of the NBA Playoffs at Toyota Center. Rockets won 124 to 103. Mandatory Credit: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports /
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It’s official — Donatas Motiejunas is no longer part of the Houston Rockets in what has been one of the most bizarre off seasons that I’ve seen for an NBA free agent.

It’s official — Donatas Motiejunas is no longer part of the Houston Rockets in what has been one of the most bizarre off seasons that I’ve seen for an NBA free agent.

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Rockets had originally decided to do the what’s in the best interest of the team by completing its last not finalized deal.

What is that you may ask?

The Houston Rockets had officially decided to match an offer sheet for D-Mo to which could’ve been multi-year deal.

So what did that exactly entail?

Let’s review if I may please.

We’ll rewind all the way back to October when this mess all started with the Rockets offering D-Mo the minimum qualifying offer of $4.4 million.

This is how business works and the Rockets were waiting to see if they could low-ball D-Mo to come back to work for cheap.

That didn’t happen.

One month later, the Rockets upped the ante by offering him a multi-year deal with the first year being guaranteed for $7 million.

D-Mo didn’t sign.

And just one week ago, the Brooklyn Nets, who had been rumored to land him since early in the off season, signed him to an offer sheet.

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This time, the deal was worth up to $8.5 million — $5 million upfront — for the first season guaranteed with the remaining years just the opposite.

The total package?

A deal worth four years, $37 million.

There was a wrinkle just a few days ago in regard to the stipulations of the contact causing him not to show up for physical.

That said wrinkle was thought to be ironed out later in the week but now the Rockets and D-Mo had hit another snag.

The Rockets wanted to seek additional information in regard to his medical clearance to play, delaying the process of D-Mo’s return to the lineup.

He did show up to Toyota Center before last Saturday’s 109-87 rout of the Dallas Mavericks but was asked to leave.

The Rockets were stone-faced and tight-lipped in regard to the issue but there had been ongoing negotiations with the league office in New York, Rockets and D-Mo’s camp in regard to a possible resolution.

Yet again, nothing happened.

Ultimately, the Rockets decided to renounce their rights to D-Mo, making him an unrestricted free agent where he is now free to sign with any team except for the Brooklyn Nets.

This is, of course, because the Rockets agreed to the offer sheet put together by the Nets.

It’s quite puzzling that the Rockets allowed D-Mo to walk without getting nothing in return.

This happening are totally outside of Daryl Morey’s modus operandi. 

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It certainly wasn’t the desirable result that both parties wanted but the only resolution to both camp’s dilemmas.

This had been a game of glorified chess with each party making their move until the final pieces were on the board.

The only exception was that the game ended in a stalemate and nobody won.

Now D-Mo will have seek another deal from different team and it may not even be close to what he was offered to begin with.

His reputation has been marred league-wide and it will cause teams to low-ball their offers in concerns of his ongoing back issues.

My question is why did the Rockets fail his physical when the Nets cleared him to play?

I can only assume that the conflict when Morey and D-Mo had escalated from a simple business transaction to letting personal emotions get into the fray.

That’s too bad because it prevents one focusing on the ultimate prize — assembling the best talent to win an NBA championship.

But the Rockets are 19-7 and riding high on league-leading, eight-game win streak so the evidence that D-Mo may not be needed on this roster is crystal-clear.

Things likely would’ve been different at the bargaining table if the Rockets were struggling and this story that has been swept under the rug in most NBA circles would’ve been magnified.

I wish there was language in the current collective bargaining agreement for D-Mo to go back to the Nets, where he wanted to go all along.

Next: Eric Gordon's Campaign For 6th Man

That ship has sailed…

But all in all, I think D-Mo will get another chance.

It will be a short-term deal but he’ll prove himself to earn a long-term deal.

He still has a lot of youth on his side, with a heart bigger than the city he used to call home for many years.

That will take him a long way.

Farewell D-Mo and see you on the flip side.

Go Rockets.

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