Another NBA player is headed to the Chinese Basketball Association with reports that Marshon Brooks has come to terms with the Guangdong Southern Tigers. He becomes the second player to join the team after Michael Beasley.
Brooks will reportedly replace Malcolm Delaney who parted ways with the Southern Tigers recently. Prior to his stint with Guangdong last year, the 29-year-old cager played for the Atlanta Hawks. He put up pretty decent numbers for the Southern Tigers, averaging 19.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 6.1 assists, CBS Sports said.
Unfortunately, those numbers were not enough with the level of competition in the CBA. Delaney is likely to try his luck and return to the NBA. In his previous stint, he averaged 5.7 points and 2.8 assists in about 17 minutes of action for the Hawks. He played a total of 127 games from 2016-18 in Atlanta.
With the bar set, it will be interesting of Brooks can improve on his numbers. In the current NBA season, Brooks averaged only 6.6 points in 29 games with the Memphis Grizzlies. The 25th overall pick of the 2011 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics also had stints with the Brooklyn Nets, Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Brooks was traded to the Grizzlies last January to the Chicago Bulls along with Wayne Selden Jr. and two future second-round picks. He would eventually be waived without playing a single minute for the Chicago Bulls.
Incidentally, that trade involving Brooks was tainted with some confusion due to the names involved in that multiplayer trade centered on Trevor Ariza. As reported by NBA.com, the initial report claimed that Dillon Brooks would be headed to Memphis and not Marshon Brooks. When everything was sorted out, the 30-year-old found himself being traded again to the Bulls and then waived.
It will be a second coming for Brooks to the CBA. He initially played for the Jiangsu Dragons back in 2015. With two NBA stars in the roster, it will be interesting how the Southern Tigers will fare this season.
Last season, they finished with a 28-10 win-loss card and reached the CBA playoffs. They made the semis after defeating the Xinjiang Flying Tigers, 3-1 in the quarterfinals. Unfortunately, they would fall short against the Liaoning Flying Tigers in the semifinals, 1-4.
The Guangdong Southern Tigers have won 8 CBA titles and are the only team to have qualified for the CBA playoffs in all the seasons since the league launched in 1995.
