The Spurs today announced they have waived 6-10 forward Marcus Haislip.
Haislip was signed this summer in a move that made absolutely no sense to most Spurs writers and bloggers, including everyone at Project Spurs.
After being selected 13th in the 2002 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks, he was considered by many to be a bust and only lasted three seasons in the NBA. Over the past several years, he became a highly sought free agent after starring in Europe.
The Spurs had been wooing Haislip for a while and signed him once Rasheed Wallace was signed by the Celtics. But it appears Haislip’s second NBA stint hasn’t gone very well either. He averaged just 4.4 minutes in 10 games on a very talent-laden Spurs roster.
Earlier today, HoopsNotes noted that Haislip was eyeing a return to Europe after struggling to get sufficient playing time with the Spurs.
Marcus Haislip had dreams of playing in the best league in the world. But reality has beaten him down, and he played an average of 4.4 minutes in 10 games.
Now it comes to Haislip an opportunity to stop warming the bench for the San Antonio Spurs: Panathinaikos wants him as a reinforcement for the final stretch of the season in which the Greek team has to face the Regal Barcelona, Maroussi and Partizan during the Top 16 of the Euroleague.
Zeljko Obradovic is looking for a power forward to replace the injured Kostas Tsartsaris. And he hopes to use his good relationship with the coach of the San Antonio Spurs, Gregg Popovich, to attract Haislip in Greece.
The Spurs roster now stands at 14. With Dwayne Jones outplaying all of his competition in the D-League and easily averaging 20 and 20 a night recently, will the Spurs look to Jones to fill the empty roster spot?
Leave your thoughts in the comments.
