"Aaron Brooks waited as long as he could bear for the NBA but the Chinese Basketball Association kept calling.

After NBA labor talks dissolved this week, Brooks accepted a $2 million-plus offer to play a season for CBA four-time defending champion Guangdong. He will be unable to return to the NBA until his CBA season ends.

Brooks is an NBA restricted free agent, allowing the Suns to match any NBA offer to keep him. Brooks believes he will remain a restricted free agent whether he returns to the NBA immediately after his CBA tenure (the season ends Feb. 15; the playoffs end in March) or if he is in the 2012 summer free-agency pool. Suns teammate Josh Childress left Atlanta for Greece in 2008 but remained Atlanta's restricted free agent last year when the Suns had to send Atlanta a second-round draft pick in a sign-and-trade deal."