Will Bynum In Talks With Chinese Team

10:26pm: Mudiay is reportedly leaving China because of his injury, and his family wants him to fully recover in order to be ready for the 2015 NBA draft, according to Hupu.com (translation by Emiliano Carchia of Sportando).

9:49pm: Will Bynum is nearing a deal with the Guangdong Southern Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports (Twitter link). Bynum would be brought in to replace Emmanuel Mudiay, who has been out with an ankle injury since November 24th. It is unclear if this would mean Mudiay would be released from Guangdong, or if Bynum is simply being brought in to bolster the roster until Mudiay is able to return to action.

Bynum was waived by the Celtics back in October after Boston had acquired him via trade from the Pistons, though the Celtics had made attempts to trade his fully guaranteed salary rather than simply release him. In 353 career games in the NBA, Bynum has averaged 8.2 points and 3.3 assists, while logging 18.5 minutes per contest. His career slash line is .443/.280/.800.

Mudiay is widely projected to be a top-five pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, and he has the potential to be selected No. 1 overall. He is currently ranked No. 2 in the rankings of both Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress and Chad Ford of ESPN.com. Prior to his injury, Mudiay was averaging 16.4 points, 6.1 assists and 6.0 rebounds per contest.

There has been some talk that Mudiay was planning to leave China prior to the end of the CBA season in order to keep his draft stock high, which would keep an aura of mystique around him similar to what surrounded Dante Exum last year. Mudiay denied such claims, but it remains to be seen how his ankle injury will affect his thinking in this regard.

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