‘Issues’ Remain With Donatas Motiejunas

DECEMBER 12, 10:44am: Although the Rockets and Motiejunas agreed to a new contract on Friday, the deal hit a snag with the forward’s physical on Saturday, per Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle (Twitter links). According to Feigen, GM Daryl Morey said today that he and the Rockets are in “active discussions” with Motiejunas’ reps and the league, but it’s not clear whether or not the 26-year-old will officially join the team.

DECEMBER 10, 6:46pm: Houston’s front office wants more medical information on Motiejunas before it permits him to return to the team, Watkins tweets. Motiejunas tells ESPN that he did report to tonight’s game. “I was there,” he said. “They told me to go home.” (Twitter link).

5:58pm: The Rockets appeared to have their situation with Donatas Motiejunas resolved when they agreed to re-sign him to a four-year contact on Friday. However, the fifth-year big man wasn’t on hand for the start of tonight’s game with Dallas, and coach Mike D’Antoni said there are still “some issues” with his availability, tweets ESPN’s Calvin Watkins.

D’Antoni didn’t elaborate on what the issues involved, but added that he had expected Motiejunas to be at the game, and “he’s not.”

Motiejunas had been without a contract since becoming a restricted free agent on July 1st. He received an offer sheet from Brooklyn last week, which the Rockets matched on Monday. However, they matched just the salary part of the deal and not the incentives that the Nets included. Motiejunas’ agent, B.J. Armstrong, had a brief standoff with the team before a new deal was reached. That contract contains incentives, but pushes the team option on the final three seasons back to July 15th of each year.

Whatever issue caused Motiejunas not to be on hand for the game, D’Antoni expects to have it resolved later tonight, tweets Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle.

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