By Lukas Peng
With the CBA season well into its second half, Emmanuel Mudiay is no longer on the official roster. He suffered an ankle injury in late November versus Xinjiang, a game in which they ended up losing. Without Mudiay, the team lost the next game versus then undefeated Liaoning. That was the last time Guangdong lost.
Guangdong has since won 12 games in a row and has not lost in the month of December. With the addition of Will Bynum to replace the injured Mudiay, Guangdong has quickly found their dominance once again. Will Bynum has done a god job since arriving and has been averaging 21.0 points, 7.6 assists, and 4.4 rebounds per game compared to Mudiay’s 17.7 points, 5.9 assists, and 6.0 rebounds per game. Bynum has been posting more consistent shooting percentages and like Mudiay, before him, has done an excellent job getting his teammates involved.
Mudiay is still with the team and has been actively rehabbing his ankle. He was seen in the evening news smiling and hugging his head coach after after a big win versus rival Beijing Ducks led by Stephon Marbury. Unfortunately it was a game Mudiay never got to play as Stephon stole the show in the season opener and Will Bynum stole the show this time around with 24 points and 14 assists in a 24 point blowout win for Guangdong.
Mudiay has shown what he can do, and that he can play at a very high level already. But we have also seen his weaknesses and struggles at times, which is understandable for an 18 year old. While other top NBA prospects will be heavily evaluated in NCAA competition over the next few months, Mudiay’s return to the court is a real question mark.
With Will Bynum playing well, nobody is sure what will happen to Emmanuel Mudiay. He is still part of the team and is under contract, but only time will tell if we will see him back in action, or perhaps he has already played his last game in China and his next professional basketball appearance will be in the NBA.
