After becoming an offensive sensation in China and uncorking a 75-point game there in January, Quincy Douby decided to return to the NBA D-League this season in hopes of getting his first summons back to the NBA since the opening month of the 2009-10 season.

But the Yao Ming-owned Shanghai Sharks, according to sources abroad, are pushing hard to persuade Douby to come back to China once more and put his NBA aspirations on hold until the spring.

Douby

Sources say that Shanghai, after initially targeting Los Angeles Lakers last cut Marcus Landry to replace the injured Von Wafer, were pressing Sunday to try to seal a deal with Douby to leave the D-League's Sioux Falls Skyforce and join the Sharks to assume the backcourt scoring load Wafer was supposed to shoulder.

Playing for Shanghai would obviously be far more lucrative for Douby than staying in the D-League, where the maximum salary is a mere $25,000. But if he elects to go to China now, Douby likely would no longer be a mere phone call away from the NBA, since the Chinese Basketball Association typically prevents its players from leaving to sign with an NBA team until the Chinese season ends in March.

The Sharks are expected to turn to Landry, whom they've had on their roster before, if this bid for Douby proves unsuccessful. But if Yao does manage to pry Douby out of the D-League, it would be another harsh outcome for Landry, who coming out of training camp lost out on the 15th and final roster spot with the Lakers to Elias Harris.

Now 29, Douby was the 19th overall pick by Sacramento in the 2006 NBA draft. He's averaging 20.5 points through two games of the D-League season with Sioux Falls under coach Pat Delany, who took over when the Miami Heat assumed operational control of the franchise over the summer.