Phoenix Suns withdraw offer to Aaron Brooks - NBA Update
Aaron Brooks, the former Phoenix Suns guard became an unrestricted free agent on Saturday, after the Suns withdrew their qualifying offer to him.
Aaron was traded by the Houston Rockets to the Desert City franchise during the 2010-2011 season, in a trade that gave the Rockets Goran Dragic and a first-round pick. A year before the trade, Brooks had received the NBA Most Improved
Player Award.
Brooks participated in 25 games for the Suns in the 2010-11 season, averaging 9.6 points and 4.2 assists.
However he couldn’t play for Suns last season, as he was playing for Chinese National Basketball Association’s Guangdong Southern Tigers. As per the rules of CBA, there was no escape clause in Brooks’ contract and when the lockout
finally ended late in December, the guard had no option but to honour his contract in China.
His absence deprived him off the sign-and-trade right and his qualifying offer was set at $2,976,637.
In the past week, Phoenix have made some major changes to their roster. On one hand they bid farewell to their only superstar in Steve Nash, and then filled the void by recalling Goran Dragic. Dragic’s big contract has eventually
turned out to be the deciding factor in the Suns being unable to match Aaron’s offer.
To add further strength on their point guard position Suns drafted Kendall Marshall, who might not as good a shooter, but he is certainly a good distributor and can learn a lot playing alongside Dragic and Sebastian Telfair.
According to the sources with knowledge of the situation, Brooks will now ironically be headed to the Rockets. Houston has parted ways with both of their premier point guards in Kyle Lowry and Dragic and are looking to reshape
it by recalling Jeremy Lin, the new York Knicks sensation, who is a restricted free agent.
The Knicks are expected to match the offer for Lin and it has been reported that the Rockets decision to sign Brooks is not subjected to Lin’s outcome. Aaron was drafted by Rockets back in 2007 and was traded to Suns in 2011. Over
the years he had averaged 12.5 points and 3.6 assists in 272 games.
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