(Photo: J Rosenfeld/Wikimeida Commons/CC-BY 2.0)
The Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) may have no clue as to when the season can resume but that has not stopped teams from trying to beef up their rosters. Despite the lull, the Liaoning Flying Leopards have just added another former NBA player in the person of OJ Mayo.
The Flying Leopards made the announcement recently, revealing that they have signed the 32-year-old for the rest of the CBA season. While that should be good news to the fans of Mayo and the CBA, it remains that there is still no certainty on when the games will resume. Originally, the CBA was to resume play on Apr. 15. However, league officials were forced to push back their plans to May due to the coronavirus pandemic. Right now, even that new restart date is up in the air.
Mayo was last seen in the NBA back during the 2015-16 season. He was banned by the NBA due to a drug violation and was eligible for reinstatement at the start of the 2018-19 season. However, no team took the 32-year-old in and Mayo ended up playing overseas. He has had stints in Puerto Rico, Taiwan, and the Taipei Fubon Braves in the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL), Yahoo Sports reported.
It was not specifically mentioned when Mayo would be arriving in China. However, the third overall pick of the 2008 NBA Draft will undergo the required 14-day quarantine in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. At any rate, Mayo will be joining two other former NBA players on the team in Lance Stephenson and Brandon Bass. Both have yet to return to the country as of this writing.
In his last stint with the Milwaukee Bucks, Mayo saw action in 41 games and averaged 7.8 points, 2.9 assists, and 2.2 rebounds. These were a far cry from his career averages of 13.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.9 assists. Aside from the Bucks, Mayo also suited up for the Memphis Grizzlies and the Dallas Mavericks.
Mayo joins a long list of former NBA stars seeing action in the Chinese league. Aside from Stephenson and Bass, other notable names playing in the CBA include Jeremy Lin and Ty Lawson. Most have not yet returned with countries employing strict measures on people going in and out of ports due to the coronavirus strain.
For Mayo, it could be a chance to show NBA teams that he can still be of help next season. Several players have gotten that chance and the 6-foot-4 guard hopes to make it count.
