By JOSH NEWMAN
Emmanuel Mudiay hadn’t played a game for the Chinese Basketball Association’s Guangdong Southern Tigers since Nov. 23, but that didn’t matter much on Sunday morning.
With Guangdong trailing Stephon Marbury and Beijing Ducks, 2-0, in a best-of-5 CBA semifinal series, Chinese online media company Sina.com reported Guangdong was reactivating Mudiay in an effort to save the season.
The move panned out on Sunday as Mudiay scored 24 points on 8-for-19 shooting to go along with eight rebounds, four assists and four steals in a 110-99 Guangdong win.
Mudiay, a 6-foot-5 Congolese-American point guard out of controversial Dallas charter school Prime Prep, decided to forego a scholarship to SMU in favor of signing for $1.2 million with Guangdong. He played in 10 games, 17.7 points, six rebounds and six assists before suffering a sprained ankle. He was replaced on Guangdong by veteran NBA guard Will Bynum, who is coincidentally being paired with in an effort to save the season.
Sina.com reported that American big man and former UConn standout Jeff Adrien will be deactivated in order to get the all-import backcourt of Mudiay and Bynum going.
When the season first began, Mudiay was projected as the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft by DraftExpress, but has since been moved down to No. 4.
After the injury and with his future in limbo back in December, one league source told SNY.tv that Mudiay could opt to “pull an Exum” and simply not play competitive basketball for the rest of the season.
Dante Exum, a 6-foot-5 Australian guard, did not play competitively last season, but still ended up as the No. 5 pick of the Utah Jazz in the 2014 Draft. There was an aura of mystique around him precisely because he hadn’t played competitively, which prevented scouts and analysts from picking apart his game. In 57 games, Exum is currently averaging 4.6 points and 2.3 assists in 20.6 minutes.
With Mudiay out, and Bynum, Adrien and onetime NBA veteran Yi Jianlian in the mix, Guangdong finished the CBA regular season with the league’s best record at 34-4, but they have been torched by Marbury in this playoff series. The Coney Island native and former Knicks point guard has 41 points in the two Beijing wins.
