No NBA Offers for Delonte West, Goes East to China
It seems like no National Basketball Association (NBA) team is interested in the services of Delonte West. No worries for the 30-year-old NBA veteran, as Chinese Basketball Association’s (CBA) Fujian SBS Sturgeons is willing to give him a shot as both parties agreed to a short-term one-season deal Wednesday.
The news was first reported by Chris Haynes of Comcast Sportsnet.
The 6-foot-3 combo guard was last seen in the NBA playing for the Dallas Mavericks. After a respectable 2011-2012 season, when he averaged 9.6 points and 3.3 assists in 44 games for the Mavs, the volatile West did not play a single minute in his second year in Dallas because of various disciplinary reasons.
Two weeks before the 2012-2013 regular season opened, West was suspended by Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle for "conduct detrimental to the team.” He was reinstated days later only to be suspended again indefinitely the same week.
West battled with depression and a bipolar disorder in his time in the league. In November of 2010, he was sentenced to an 8-month home detention because of carrying multiple firearms in September of 2009.
Despite the obvious baggage he brings with him, teams like Dallas gave him a second chance to be in the NBA. West was drafted by the Boston Celtics in 2004 and played there for three years. He also played for the Cleveland Cavaliers and the defunct Seattle Supersonics.
In eight years in the NBA, he has career averages of 9.7 points, 2.9 rebounds and 3.6 assists.
It is not known if another NBA team will give him another chance. But by the time his deal in China ends in February 2014, it is possible that he would return to the American pro league if he plays well in the CBA.
With the Sturgeons, West will join Asian superstar Nikkah Baharami, who also signed with the team in 2013.
Other ex-NBA players who played in Fujian are Sundiata Gaines, Andre Emmet, Matt Freije, Jelani McCoy and Patrick O’Bryant.