Sebastian Telfair Rejects $7M Offer From Chinese Team For Thunder Deal

[RealGM Wiretap]

Before finalizing his contract to return to the NBA, Sebastian Telfair rejected one of the most lucrative proposals in professional basketball overseas – a two-year, $7 million deal from a team in the Chinese Basketball Association, his agent Joel Bell told RealGM.

Telfair starred in the Chinese league a season ago, averaging 26 points and six assists, and a club came to him with an offer of $3.5 million per season once word trickled of his agreement with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Still, Telfair – once a prodigal point guard out of New York – pressed for his comeback into the NBA and finalized the deal in Oklahoma City.

In nine NBA seasons, Telfair, 29, has averaged 7.4 points, 3.5 assists and 21.6 minutes. He had been somewhat a lost player, bouncing around the NBA before re-engaging himself as a point guard in one-plus seasons with the Phoenix Suns.

Telfair closed the 2012-13 season with the Toronto Raptors.

Via Shams Charania/RealGM

[MaseInYourFace]

The overseas money should still be there in a year or two but man wow that was hard to pass up. He'll never sniff that money in NBA. But ultimately I think he made right choice. Playing with Durant guarantees you a chance to be really good and possibly win a title.

[HeartBreaking]

26 ppg what a mosnter

[inquisitive]

so how much is okc offering him?

[saltybs]

A guy like him looks at Shaun Livingston's year for the Nets and says "give me the PT, and that'll be me." He knows if he plays well as the backup PG for the Thunder, and they make a deep run, he's on tap for that "multi-year backup PG to mentor young PG" contract to finish out his top-notch playing days. 7mil from a Chinese team is great, but no NBA team bites on him 2 years from now. He has a good year next year and it could lead to him bouncing around the NBA for another 5, making well north of 7M in that time. If not and he stinks, he'll just go back to China.

[HornetJail]

Was Telfair's OKC contract just a one-year minimum? He'll get well over a million from that, and if he performs well in a decent role, he'll probably get paid next summer, potentially more than 3.5M a year.

After Thabo's exit, is OKC planning to start Reggie Jackson and Russell Westbrook together in the backcourt? That would leave Lamb, Telfair, and Semaj Christon as the backups. Telfair could play a decent role.

[PDXKnight]

Jeez china is desperate for talent at this point. The fact that a team offered Sebastian 3.5 million is a bit scary though considering that there might be someone out there who could pony up for a big name eventually.

[Pukovnik]

Jeez china is desperate for talent at this point. The fact that a team offered Sebastian 3.5 million is a bit scary though considering that there might be someone out there who could pony up for a big name eventually.

He had 26 ppg last season in China, with these kind of numbers he would get a 15 mil deal in the NBA.

[Pukovnik]

Was Telfair's OKC contract just a one-year minimum? He'll get well over a million from that, and if he performs well in a decent role, he'll probably get paid next summer, potentially more than 3.5M a year.

After Thabo's exit, is OKC planning to start Reggie Jackson and Russell Westbrook together in the backcourt? That would leave Lamb, Telfair, and Semaj Christon as the backups. Telfair could play a decent role.

And how do you expect Telfair to get any real minutes for the Thunder beside Westbrook and Jackson?

[HornetJail]

Was Telfair's OKC contract just a one-year minimum? He'll get well over a million from that, and if he performs well in a decent role, he'll probably get paid next summer, potentially more than 3.5M a year.

After Thabo's exit, is OKC planning to start Reggie Jackson and Russell Westbrook together in the backcourt? That would leave Lamb, Telfair, and Semaj Christon as the backups. Telfair could play a decent role.

And how do you expect Telfair to get any real minutes for the Thunder beside Westbrook and Jackson?

I just said that I expect Westbrook and Jackson to be the starting guards with Telfair as the primary backup PG.

[StJoesBasketball22]

I had high hopes for this guy when he was coming into the league. I even begged my parents to buy me his "through the fire" documentary when it came out.

Coulda been something great had he gone to college

[HotelVitale]

Jeez china is desperate for talent at this point. The fact that a team offered Sebastian 3.5 million is a bit scary though considering that there might be someone out there who could pony up for a big name eventually.

He had 26 ppg last season in China, with these kind of numbers he would get a 15 mil deal in the NBA.

Need to do a bit more research into the Chinese league, man. Marcus Williams, Leon Rodgers, and 10 other guys who don't have a real shot at the NBA scored more than 26 pts per game in the CBA last year. Some guy named Jonathan Gibson posted 32/5/6 on 50% from the field.

[HotelVitale]

Coulda been something great had he gone to college :

That's a pretty bogus reading of his career. He became one of the many many guys who was a great HS player but wasn't quite good enough to be a meaningful player in the NBA. There's no shame in that--not being one of the best 60 point guards in the world doesn't mean you're not a really incredible player--but it's stupid to see him as some tragic case just because he didn't become a tar.

If you look at the top 20 HS recruits every year, about half of them never play in the NBA. He was the #6 rated HS guy that year, right next to Earl Smith and Malik Hairston (two guys I've never heard of). He wasn't an amazing, once-a-year prospect, and given his ranking he's carved out a pretty good career: 9 NBA seasons, made about $20m so far. That's a nice resume for a guy rated between 5-10 in the HS rankings.

[Pukovnik]

Jeez china is desperate for talent at this point. The fact that a team offered Sebastian 3.5 million is a bit scary though considering that there might be someone out there who could pony up for a big name eventually.

He had 26 ppg last season in China, with these kind of numbers he would get a 15 mil deal in the NBA.

Need to do a bit more research into the Chinese league, man. Marcus Williams, Leon Rodgers, and 10 other guys who don't have a real shot at the NBA scored more than 26 pts per game in the CBA last year. Some guy named Jonathan Gibson posted 32/5/6 on 50% from the field.

My point was, his 3.5 mil offer in China is legitimate when he had 26 ppg last season.

[StJoesBasketball22]

Coulda been something great had he gone to college :

That's a pretty bogus reading of his career. He became one of the many many guys who was a great HS player but wasn't quite good enough to be a meaningful player in the NBA. There's no shame in that--not being one of the best 60 point guards in the world doesn't mean you're not a really incredible player--but it's stupid to see him as some tragic case just because he didn't become a tar.

If you look at the top 20 HS recruits every year, about half of them never play in the NBA. He was the #6 rated HS guy that year, right next to Earl Smith and Malik Hairston (two guys I've never heard of). He wasn't an amazing, once-a-year prospect, and given his ranking he's carved out a pretty good career: 9 NBA seasons, made about $20m so far. That's a nice resume for a guy rated between 5-10 in the HS rankings.

Telfair was supposed to be the second coming of Stephon Marbury (his cousin). He was drafted 13th overall by the Blazers and is now on his 8th NBA team in 9yrs. He went straight to the NBA to get his family out of poverty which is understandable, but there is no way you an tell me telfair has lived up to his potential at all with the stats that he's put up.

If you re-read my post, at no point did I say he wasn't a decent NBA player, he's just no where near what he was projected to be and he's pretty much an NBA journey man at this point in his career.

[TheBallDoLie]

Even with more money..

NBA lifestyle > CBA lifestyle

[joeregistre]

He may have passed on the money for fear of the potential lockout after the 2016 season.

If he doesn't get back in the NBA now and there is a Lock Out in 2017 he may not have another oppurtunity to get back in the states to play NBA ball. And since he's going to a winning team it's not like a lot will be asked from him so he is set up to look good again to other NBA teams playing with so much talent around him. $7 Mill is a lot to give up but it looks like he's thinking long term. He can always go back to China to play. The NBA is something not everyone is lucky enough to have.

[SteveC]

I think part of the reason he was offered so much was his affiliation with Stephon. still ridiculous though. Besides Adam Morrison, Seb might be the biggest let down for me. He was so talented.

[pistons]

Coulda been something great had he gone to college :

That's a pretty bogus reading of his career. He became one of the many many guys who was a great HS player but wasn't quite good enough to be a meaningful player in the NBA. There's no shame in that--not being one of the best 60 point guards in the world doesn't mean you're not a really incredible player--but it's stupid to see him as some tragic case just because he didn't become a tar.

If you look at the top 20 HS recruits every year, about half of them never play in the NBA. He was the #6 rated HS guy that year, right next to Earl Smith and Malik Hairston (two guys I've never heard of). He wasn't an amazing, once-a-year prospect, and given his ranking he's carved out a pretty good career: 9 NBA seasons, made about $20m so far. That's a nice resume for a guy rated between 5-10 in the HS rankings.

Earl Smith is JR Smith of the Knicks.

I actually went to high school with Malik Hairston (and his fellow McDonald All-American teammate Joe Crawford , who is the older brother of Warriors guard Jordan Crawford) . He played for the Spurs, and played pretty well too but asked to be let out of his contract and go overseas where he signed some multi-million dollar deal.

Just FYI lol

[HotelVitale]

Telfair was supposed to be the second coming of Stephon Marbury (his cousin). He was drafted 13th overall by the Blazers and is now on his 8th NBA team in 9yrs. He went straight to the NBA to get his family out of poverty which is understandable, but there is no way you an tell me telfair has lived up to his potential at all with the stats that he's put up.
If you re-read my post, at no point did I say he wasn't a decent NBA player, he's just no where near what he was projected to be and he's pretty much an NBA journey man at this point in his career.

He was called the second coming of Marbury by a bunch of sportswriters whose job it is to hype up players so readers get excited about them; saying that someone 'could be like DJ Augustin one day' isn't going to sell copies of Sports Illustrated. (He was also drafted about 5-10 picks earlier than expected too, if I remember right).

Being drafted 13th means you have about a 50% chance of sticking with a NBA team in a meaningful way. Luke Jackson and Robert Swift were drafted with two of the three picks before Telfair, and they ended up with less distinguished careers than Telfair. (Kirk Snyder was taken two picks later, also had a worse career than Telly). Point is: having enough potential (and hype) as an 18 year-old to be taken at #13 overall doesn't mean that you're expected to become a star. It's only young fans or people that don't pay attention to NBA history that think or expect that, everyone else knows how that player development is so unpredictable that the draft's ultimately a crap shoot.