Motiejunas’ Injury Voids Three-Team Trade

The three-team trade between the Sixers, Pistons, and Rockets has been voided because Rockets forward Donatas Motiejunas failed a physical | Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

The three-team trade between Philadelphia, Detroit, and Houston has been voided, according to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports.

Houston Rockets forward Donatas Motiejunas, who has been dealing with a lingering back injury all season, was not cleared to play by the Pistons’ medical team. That gave the Detroit front office a chance to void the trade.

Motiejunas, who averaged 12.0 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game in 71 appearances last season for the Houston Rockets, has been limited to just 14 games so far this season.

The Pistons, who were set to acquire Motiejunas and Marcus Thornton from the Houston Rockets for a protected first-round draft pick, requested a 24-hour extension to the typical 72-hour window to complete the physical to finalize the trade.

That extension pushed the deadline back to 6 p.m. today.

The trade being voided leaves the Sixers in a lose-lose situation: they will not receive Joel Anthony or Denver’s 2017 second-round pick, both of which were set to come to Philadelphia as part of the three-team trade. JaKarr Sampson, who had to be waived in order to make room for the trade to go through, has already cleared waivers and signed a two-year contract with the Denver Nuggets.

This leaves the Sixers with an open roster spot.

The trade being voided does mean that the Sixers will retain the rights to overseas prospect Chukwudiebere Maduabum.

The final impact of the voided trade for the Sixers is that they are now over $2.6 million from the salary cap floor. The addition of Joel Anthony’s salary would have brought them to within roughly $130,000 of the team’s mandated minimum salary.

Derek Bodner covers the 76ers for Philadelphia magazine. Follow @DerekBodnerNBA on Twitter.