Donatas Motiejunas is a fine basketball player.
At seven feet tall, he can shoot, put the ball on the floor a bit, and can competently fill minutes at either big man spot. He’s still just 26 years old and likely has his best basketball ahead of him. Plus, his name is super fun to offer up in different permutations.
So it was definitely a reasonable move when Stan Van Gundy and Jeff Bower traded away a top 8 protected 2016 first round draft pick to acquire Motiejunas along with Marcus Thornton from the Houston Rockets.
The trade was signed, sealed, and delivered, which also included sending Joel Anthony to the Philadelphia 76ers along with a Rockets future second round pick.