Agent ‘100 Percent Sure’ Greg Oden Will Play in the NBA Next Season


According to Greg Oden’s representative, rumors involving the Miami Heat being greatly interested in his client are overblown. However, the agent says he’s certain about Oden finding his way back into the NBA next season, one way or another. Per Fox Sports: “Mike Conley, the agent for Oden, said it is an option Oden could sign with an NBA team this season for rehab purposes. But he said he has heard nothing from the Heat since Oden was waived by Portland last March. ‘Greg Oden will be playing in the NBA next season, I’m 100 percent sure of that,’ Conley said of his client, who turns 25 on Jan. 22 and hasn’t played in an NBA game since December 2009. ‘But I haven’t had any talks with the Heat. I have talked to several teams (that Conley wouldn’t name). I would call (rumors Oden could end up in Miami this season) extreme.’ Conley had said last July that Oden would not be retiring and would be returning to the NBA. Conley said at the time Oden had interest in the Heat, and he said Thursday that remains the case. Even though he has never heard from the Heat throughout this process, Conley didn’t want to rule them out for the future and said it’s certainly possible he eventually could talk to Miami officials. ‘Anybody would like to play for a team that can contend for a title, and it is a team that needs another big man,’ said Conley, a former track star and the father of Memphis point guard Mike Conley Jr., said about Oden’s interest in Miami. […] Oden has had five surgeries on both his knees since entering the NBA, including two surgeries last February, one being his third microfracture procedure. But Conley said Oden, who is working out on his own in Columbus, Ohio, is now jumping as well as he did before the surgeries last February. ‘He’s rehabbing and doing very well,’ Conley said. Conley said Oden is regularly playing basketball, but didn’t want to go into how much. Conley went so far as to say Oden one day will live up to projections and be an NBA All-Star. ‘I think when he comes back, maybe five or six or seven months after that, he should return to the type of player where he should have been,’ Conley said. ‘It will take some time to get his conditioning back. I think that when he comes back to playing in the NBA, he will have the ability to be an All-Star.'”