Guard Bonzi Wells will miss the rest of the season after mysteriously leaving the Houston Rockets, and his future with the team is uncertain.
Wells was fined and placed on the inactive list after failing to show for Monday’s game in Seattle, the team said. Rockets spokesman Bob Schranz said Wednesday that Wells would not be activated this season.
Wells was not with the team before Wednesday night’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers, and his sudden departure was mostly a puzzle except for a message he left for the team trainer saying he was concerned he was disrupting team chemistry.
“He was fine. I have nothing but positives to say about him. In this one incident, he should have called me, but other than that, he handled himself very well,” Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said.
Wells averaged 7.8 points and 4.3 rebounds in 28 games. His deactivation ends a tumultuous first season in Houston.
He signed a two-year, $4.4 million contract Oct. 2, but his problems began almost immediately. He missed most of training camp with various injuries and was inactive for 18 of Houston’s first 20 games. Van Gundy later admitted that he and Wells weren’t getting along.
Wells returned in mid-December, but he was in and out of the lineup all season with back and foot injuries.
“He needed a team, and we felt like we needed more talent,” Van Gundy said. “Sometimes those things work out well, sometimes not as well. This one didn’t work, but certainly it wasn’t his fault, or only his fault,” he added. “Just moving on forward, really.”
Heat: Center Shaquille O’Neal was inactive for Miami’s game against the Washington Wizards that began hours after the funeral for his paternal grandfather in Newark, N.J.
Donald H. Harrison Sr. died April 3. O’Neal was one of his 44 grandchildren.
Dressed in a black suit, O’Neal arrived in Miami just before game time, but the team chose not to put him on the 12-man active roster. O’Neal also missed Tuesday’s game in Charlotte, N.C., because of his grandfather’s death.
The Heat was also without forward Udonis Haslem because of a groin injury.
Timberwolves: Kevin Garnett is out indefinitely with an injured right quadriceps.
Vice president of basketball operations Kevin McHale said the injury has bothered the former MVP for months, and that Garnett and his agent decided it was time to shut it down and seek a second opinion before going forward. Garnett is averaging 22.4 points and a league-leading 12.8 rebounds.
Celtics: Captain Paul Pierce will miss the rest of the season with a sore left elbow. He averaged 25 points and 5.9 rebounds in a career-low 47 games.
Forward Brian Scalabrine (hamstring) also will sit out the rest of the season, and there’s a good chance forward Al Jefferson (knee) and guard Delonte West (ankle) will, too.
