After two seasons in Brooklyn with the Nets, power forward Andray Blatche has signed a contract with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers, a team in the Chinese Basketball Association, for the upcoming season.
It became pretty clear that Blatche wouldn’t be a member of the Nets going forward this offseason, mainly because his solid play as a back-up big man the last two years probably priced him out of Brooklyn’s desired range. There was also some buzz that the Pelicans and Heat had interest in him, but nothing materialized.
Instead, the quirky Blatche will be overseas, in the same league that former Net and Brooklyn native Stephon Marbury is infamously in, as a member of the Beijing Ducks. For some reason, I feel like those two would get along.
Certainly, I’m happy for Andray and the fact that he got a pretty lucrative $2.5 million deal for the 2014-15 campaign with Xinjiang. But I’m also going to be upset to not see him–and his remarkably unique game and skill set–in the NBA anymore. Oh, and Xinjiang also signed former Net draft pick Jordan Crawford this summer. That’s some team.
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