FA Rumors: Spurs, Heat In Lead For Greg Oden

Dec 16, 2011; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trailblazers center Greg Oden (52) poses for a photo during media day at the Rose Garden. Mandatory Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer-USA TODAY Sports
With the resigning of Tiago Splitter, this makes it interesting that the San Antonio Spurs are reportedly going to still try and sign the seven footer Greg Oden.
The San Antonio Spurs and the Miami Heat have become the two in which Oden will be making a decision to play.
ESPN’s Marc Stein broke that the two teams are “co-favorites”, “slightly” ahead of Cleveland and a handful of other teams.
When the story broke that the Spurs were interested in Oden, many Spurs fans have a sense to be worried as Oden has not been 100% nor completed a full NBA season in what seems to be a very short career for a player that had a lot of hype coming out of Ohio State.
Constant knee injuries have accounted to Oden missing 80 percent of his games during his time in Portland. He played five seasons in the league after becoming the first pick in the 2007 draft. When he was healthy, Oden averaged just under 10 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.4 blocks, in 82 appearances.
Oden was waived back in March of 2012 which he stated leaned on depression and the struggle with alcohol. Recent Spurs draft pick DeShaun Thomas stated that the seven footer looked “unbelievable” during workouts.
As Dan McCarney from the San Antonio Express news stated, Thomas didn’t mention if Oden returned back to basketball related skills when making the assumption.