DENVER -- The Toronto Raptors have claimed forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu off waivers, his agent confirmed Tuesday to FanHouse immediately after the waiver period ended.Mensah-Bonsu was let go by the Houston Rockets last Friday, and placed on waivers until 6 ET Tuesday, which is when Mensah-Bonsu's agent, John Greig, said he was awarded to Toronto.
Anticipating he would be picked up the Raptors, Mensah-Bonsu flew Tuesday to Denver, and was active for the evening game against the Nuggets.
The 6-foot-9 Mensah-Bonsu finished last season with the Raptors, averaging 5.1 points in 19 games. He has a minimum contract that doesn't become fully guaranteed Dec. 20 so the Raptors could evaluate Mensah-Bonsu for a month before making a decision. But Greig is confident he will remain with Toronto for a while.
The Raptors last week waived guard Quincy Douby, whose contract wasn't fully guaranteed for this season, in order to gain some flexibility.
"By God's grace, I'm back in a Raptors uniform,'' said Mensah-Bonsu. "I'm glad it worked out.''
Greig said some other NBA teams, which he wouldn't name, had interest in making a claim on Mensah-Bonsu. And some of those teams would have gotten him due to having a worse record than Toronto.
But Greig said discussions were made with those teams about not making a claim because Mensah-Bonsu really wanted to play in Toronto, and he possibly could have gone to Europe had he not ended up with the Raptors.
Mensah-Bonsu confirmed one of the other teams considering a claim on him was New Jersey.
"I had a good offer (from a Russian team),'' said Mensah-Bonsu. "But I'm not saying I would have turned down (the Nets or any other team besides Toronto getting him). It was just something to consider.''
Mensah-Bonsu said he felt pretty good he would end up with the Raptors when he got on Tuesday's flight to Denver, several hours before he officially was awarded to Toronto.
"There was a chance,'' Mensah-Bonsu said of a team with a worse record than Toronto coming in with a late claim. "But at that time nobody's going to step forward and say, 'We want you.'''
Mensah-Bonsu has played three NBA seasons, including this one. While also having played for Dallas and San Antonio, he's averaged 3.8 points and 3.6 rebounds.
Chris Tomasson can be reached at tomasson@fanhouse.com and on Twitter @christomasson.
