Raptors Bring Pops Mensah-Bonsu Back

**Pistons < Spurs** · 11-17-2009

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.

Greig said Mensah-Bonsu is in Denver, and could play in tonight's 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 until mid-December 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.

"(Mensah-Bonsu is) very happy,'' Greig said. "Toronto is where he wants to be.''

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 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.

http://nba.fanhouse.com/2009/11/17/r...u-off-waivers/