The Los Angeles Clippers and free-agent big man Kenyon Martin have agreed on a deal, right? Whoa, not so fast.
According to SB Nation’s Tom Ziller, Martin is having some troubles with the Chinese Basketball Association pressuring FIBA, the international governing body of profesional basketball, to rescind Martin’s request to leave his current team, the Xinjiang Tigers, before their season is over.
The Chinese government passed a rule during the NBA lockout this past year that kept teams from signing players already under NBA contracts as well as keeping teams from releasing NBA players after the lockout was over. Kenyon was a free agent, thus allowed to leave for China. Now China is unwilling to let go of him.
Martin applied for FIBA clearance recently after Chinese officials reportedly failed to respond to his request to leave, which FIBA granted without consent for Chinese officials. The CBA season would be over in around two weeks unless the Tigers made the playoffs.
For more on Martin’s signing, head over to Clips Nation.