Georges Niang's NBA career has seen better days, but it doesn't appear to be completely over for him. The Utah Jazz alum is receiving interest from the Golden State Warriors, per NBA Insider Jake Fischer. While everyone in Utah should root for Niang's career to continue, the Warriors' interest in him begs an interesting question: what happened to Niang last year?
How Niang's second Jazz "tenure" panned out had to be one of the oddest in franchise history. After the Boston Celtics basically handed him over last offseason, there was genuine excitement about what he could bring to Utah both on the court and in the locker room.
That was until he got hurt just before the season was about to start, in what was described as a stress fracture in his foot. There weren't that many details beyond the injury itself, but at the time, it sounded like Niang would be back at some point, but he never suited up for the Jazz.
Then, of course, he was included in the blockbuster Jaren Jackson Jr. trade. Because Memphis had no use for him, Niang was immediately waived, but no one picked him up. It was only until yesterday that we finally got some intel suggesting his NBA career could (not will) resume if the Warriors are serious.
We may never know what happened
This question was brought up months earlier, even after Niang was no longer associated with the Jazz. We still haven't gotten an answer on that, thus the matter may never get resolved. The best answer we have is that Niang got hurt, he's hopefully fully recovered and can resume his NBA career elsewhere.
It was just kind of odd because typically teams keep everyone in the know about the recovery, but we didn't get any updates on the former Jazz fan favorite. At the time, it sounded like Niang would miss some time, but it didn't sound season-ending, but evidently, it was.
It is a shame we didn't get to see him play another game for the Jazz when Utah went out of their way to bring him back when they had the chance. Niang became an awesome story when he rose through the ranks in Utah's system.
Because of his injury, if he plays in the NBA this season, it will likely be a team-friendly "prove-it" deal, which is a shame right after he got the biggest payday of his career back in 2023. Luckily, because Niang has been here before, he can hopefully use this as motivation to resurrect his value, whether that's with the Warriors or not.
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