Donatas Motiejunas expected to sign with New Orleans for veteran minimum

In the last Donatas Motiejunas post here at TDS (we promise, maybe) the former Rocket is expected to sign with the New Orleans Pelicans for the league veteran minimum.

We talked a little about D-mo last week when it seemed he may end up signing with the Los Angeles Lakers, and most of the same applies here. Don’t forget, D-Mo had a 4-year, $31 million deal on the table with the Rockets, and the team was willing to renegotiate up to $35 million, and the big man and his agent simply took their ball and went home. Literally.

Now, Motiejunas is playing on a one-year, $1.5 million deal with the Pelicans, for a loss of at least $30 million out of D-Mo’s pocket.

He’ll also be heading into somewhat of a logjam in the front line for the Pelicans. They start Anthony Davis and former Rocket Omer Asik while bringing Alexis Ajinca and another former Rocket, Terrence Jones off the bench.

I’m sure D-Mo will eventually make some headway for minutes, but it’s not an ideal situation for playing time. There’s also a little irony involved in once again competing against Jones for burn.

Perhaps best of all (or worst, depending on your view), is those of you who haven’t yet had enough of the eternal D-Mo versus T-Jones debate can mosey on over to The Bird Writes and likely continue to have as much of that time loop as one can handle with Pelicans fans.

The bigger story here is the complete and total incompetence of agent B.J. Armstrong. In addition to the RFA long-term deal from the Nets that the Rockets matched and D-Mo refused to play for, Houston also offered Motiejunas a one-year, $7-million prove-it deal long before this thing ever devolved into the current situation. D-Mo and Armstrong turned that down as well.

Now a short-time later, he’s on a one-year, prove-it contract anyway, just for about one-fifth of the cheddar. Way to maximize your client’s value, B.J.

Godspeed, D-Mo. Here’s hoping you find an agent upgrade in the New Year. And congrats to the Pelicans for adopting the D-Mo/Jones problem. Good luck with that. You’re going to need it.