Noted fugazi Kenyon Martin is back in the United States of A after a few months playing ball in China. He's been working out in Los Angeles and Dallas and, according to this Marc J. Spears report (and reported previously by Adam Zagoria), is nearing a decision on where to sign. The Knicks have apparently expressed interest and fall on the list of "contenders" (I mean, sure) he's considering. Spears:
Kenyon Martin is expected to decide by this weekend which NBA team he’ll join, league sources told Yahoo! Sports. The Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs, Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks have expressed interest in signing the veteran forward.
Martin signed with Xinjiang Gyang Hui of the Chinese Basketball Association, but has since returned to the United States. He’s not eligible to sign with an NBA team until Xinjiang’s season ends, which could be as soon as Feb. 16.
Now, "as soon as Feb. 16th" is good and quite soon, but Martin is forbidden from signing with an NBA team until his old Chinese team's season has ended. As Jonathan Givony just twat, there's still a decent chance that Xinjang makes the playoffs and renders him unavailable until well into March. That doesn't seem fair, but I'm not one to trifle with China (nor Chyna).
Either way, Martin might not be the best-fitting China bro available. Wilson Chandler will probably demand more than New York's mini mid-level exception, but somebody like Aaron Brooks or J.R. Smith might offer some guard depth and shooting to a roster in need of both (though with Landry Fields finally playing like a starter and Baron Davis hopefully returning someday, it's not quite as dire a need as it was previously). Patty Mills? Someone else? Thoughts?
P.S. While we're on the topic, this Times article on the players (and basketball in general) in China is worth a look if only for the photo of an emo, thickly bearded Wilson Chandler. There are plenty of excellent Wil anecdotes in there as well.