By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Former NBA player, Noah Vonleh returned to Shanghai Sharks but his second stint with the team in China’s CBA was interrupted midway through the 2023-24 season.
The 28-year-old forward/center detailed a ‘crazy year’ in a series of posts shared via his personal Instagram account on Friday.
“Shanghai Sharks are by far the worst organization I’ve ever been a part of in my career. Very unprofessional,” he wrote, “They still owe me my playoff bonus from the 21/22 season. They also still owe me the remaining balance of my salary for the 23/24 season.”
Over 14 appearances early in the 2023-24 campaign, he tallied 11.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per contest.
“I was dealing with an injury during the season and it was taking longer than expected for my return. The Sharks tried to rush me back many times and told team doctors and doctors outside of the team to lie to me and tell me I’m OK to play. I sent my MRI results to doctors in the States and they had different options and confirmed I wasn’t ready to return to play. Because of the injury was taking too long the Sharks were trying to find ways to terminate my contract on a fully guaranteed deal. They wrongfully terminated the contract on February 26th, 2024,” added Vonleh.
“They started sending out warnings to my Chinese agents saying I wasn’t showing up to practice. Chinese agents never responded to any of the warning when I told them to. After the third warning, the Sharks sent the agents a termination notice. The Sharks called board members from the CBA office to come in and investigate to see if their claims to terminate were valid. The league saw based off of security footage that they were wrong and should of never terminated the contract. I was present at practice everyday,” he explained.
“After my contract was wrongfully terminated, CBA All-Star weekend was a couple days away. I decided it was a good idea to go. The general manager of the Sharks was informed I was gonna be attending and was nervous and scared of what could happen. He called for a meeting at the All-Star Hotel to try and get me back to the team, but the terms he presented were not in my best interest. He wanted to fly back to Shanghai together and go back with this Kumbaya story like everything was all good but I wasn’t with it,” he continued.
“In March, the third and final stage of the season begins. I’m asking for meetings with the team to figure out how to get my remaining salary since I’m on a fully guaranteed deal and they no longer want me on the team. I want all my money since I’m on a fully guaranteed contract, but I know based off my previous experience they’re gonna be on some BS and not give everything, so I decide I’ll take a bit less. They declined the requests for meetins and always have excuses for why. I told them many times I want to handle it peacefully and we can go our seperate ways but they didn’t want to. I go to a couple games and the fans and everyone is wondering what is going on because they don’t want to release a statement on the situation after the league told them they have no right to do what they are trying to do such as terminating the contract and issuing unnecessary fines,” concluded Vonleh.
Coming out of Indiana in 2014, he was the ninth pick of the NBA draft. After playing for the Charlotte Hornets, Portland Trail Blazers, Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver Nuggets, Brooklyn Nets, and his first stint with the Sharks, he bounced back in the NBA with the Boston Celtics, logging 23 appearances in the 2022-23 Regular Season. Extending his career and using overseas options, he reunited with the Shanghai outfit before the 2023-24 season.