With his contract saga with the Houston Rockets finally ending last month, Donatas Motiejunas became an unrestricted free agent and was available to sign with any team that gave him an offer for his services.

After reportedly working out with the Los Angeles Lakers before Christmas, the 26-year-old Lithuanian international also received an invite from the Minnesota Timberwolves to showcase his talents.

However, head coach Tom Thibodeau said (via the Star Tribune) that his agent pulled their scheduled meetings with him and Motiejunas eventually agreed to join the New Orleans Pelicans on a veteran's minimum deal.

“His agent cancelled and we never got a chance to sit down with him.”

Motiejunas spent his first four years in the NBA with the Rockets and was a part of their rotation before suffering multiple injuries that forced him to miss 45 games last season. He was a restricted free agent and received a qualifying offer from the Brooklyn Nets for four years, $35 million before the Rockets matched it, and then began the tug-of-war between Motiejunas and the Rockets that eventually landed him a free man to sign with the Pelicans.

(Continue article below)

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It would have been an interesting prospect to see him play alongside Karl Anthony-Towns or Gorgui Dieng in Minnesota, but as it turned out, he'll be joining Anthony Davis in New Orleans where he is expected to be a stretch-five and provide quality minutes off the bench.