Rockets' Thabo Sefolosha to skip Orlando resumption

Veteran Rockets bench forward Thabo Sefolosha will be skipping the NBA’s bubble season resumption and subsequent playoffs, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

The 36-year-old defensive specialist, originally from Switzerland, inked a fully guaranteed one-year, veteran’s minimum contract with Houston at the start of the 2019-20 season but has seen limited rotation minutes. Sefolosha opting out of the bubble effectively makes him an unrestricted free agent.

In 41 games, Sefolosha, a former teammate of Rockets All-Stars James Harden and Russell Westbrook while all three were on the Thunder, averaged 2.2 PPG, 2.3 RPG, and 0.6 APG in 10.6 MPG the 2019-20 season, his 14th in the league. Despite being only 6-6, Sefolosha primarily logged time as a power forward in coach Mike D’Antoni and GM Daryl Morey‘s ultra-small ball Rockets lineups.

Sefolosha relayed his concerns about joining the bubble for an extended duration of time, away from his family with the coronavirus pandemic still on the rise, on an episode of "Brodie and the Beard," a podcast from Kelly Iko of The Athletic, per a tweet from Iko. In that conversation, Sefolosha called an isolated bubble tenure a “huge commitment.”

The Rockets will now seek a substitute for Sefolosha. He stands to lose $230,000 in salary, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link).