NBA Rumors: Latest Buzz on Kenneth Faried's China Offer, John Wall and More
The NBA rumor mill mimics the sport at its most beautiful: perpetual movement.
Each day seems to blend one buzz-worthy topic into the next. Maybe a former rotation regular draws a seven-figure offer to head overseas. Or a hobbled former All-Star starts to split from his primary endorser. Or a contender discovers how soon—or how long, rather—it can expect to get an underrated contributor back inside lines.
On a day like this, all of the above populate the same news cycle. Let's take a look.
China an Option for Kenneth Faried?
While NBA veteran Kenneth Faried hasn't secured an Association gig yet, he does have a chance to continue his playing career.
Sportando's Emiliano Carchia reported the Manimal landed—and declined—a $2 million contract offer from Guangsha of the Chinese Basketball Association. The club could up the ante in hopes of luring Faried overseas, Carchia added.
Faried, the 22nd pick in 2011, carved out an eight-year NBA career (for now) on the strength of rugged rebounding, interior activity and above-the-rim play. He spent his first seven seasons with the Denver Nuggets, was salary-dumped onto the Brooklyn Nets in July 2018, was waived by Brooklyn the following January and latched on with the Houston Rockets shortly thereafter.
Pressed into duty on an injury-riddled Rockets frontcourt, Faried made 25 appearances and 13 starts for the Rockets last season. He averaged 12.9 points and 8.2 rebounds in just 24.4 minutes a night, numbers that garnered him six more appearances in the postseason.
But he's a bit of an awkward fit in the modern game, since he doesn't offer three-point shooting (10-of-45 over 478 games) or much rim protection (career 0.8 blocks per game). It's possible that injuries could lead a win-now club to give him a shot in the coming months, but his most lucrative option almost certainly involves taking his talents outside of the U.S.
John Wall Splitting From Adidas?
John Wall's tenure as a member of Team Adidas could be coming to a premature end.
ESPN's Nick DePaula reported the two sides are "engaged in ongoing buyout negotiations that will soon bring his five-year footwear and apparel endorsement deal to an end less than two years into the agreement." Had the agreement reached its original end point, DePaula added it would have netted Wall "nearly $25 million in total."
The deal was ironed out in January 2018. Wall has seemingly fought a losing battle with the injury bug ever since.
A left knee injury cost him 27 games during the 2017-18 season. His following campaign lasted just 32 games. He underwent season-ending surgery on his left heel in January, then ruptured his left Achilles after "slipping and falling" in his home the next month. The ailment is expected to sideline him this entire season.
A five-time All-Star, the 29-year-old has a grueling road back. As a spotty-at-best outside shooter, his game has been largely dependent on his elite athleticism. There's no telling how much of that he'll regain whenever he makes it back onto the hardwood.
Gerald Green's Season Is Finished?
Gerald Green suffered a broken bone in his left foot during the Houston Rockets' fourth preseason game. That might have been his final appearance of the 2019-20 campaign.
The Rockets announced Monday that Green underwent surgery to repair the broken bone. They set his recovery period as "approximately six months," which potentially leaves the door open for a postseason return.
However, ESPN's Tim MacMahon reported it's "highly doubtful" Green returns at all this season, "even if the Rockets make a deep playoff run."
This would have been Green's third season in Space City. During the previous two, he averaged 10.3 points and 2.3 long-range makes per game. While his outside shot can be erratic (career 36.1 percent), his stroke will be missed on a Rockets team looking for maximum spacing around its star-studded backcourt of James Harden and Russell Westbrook.
