The preseason has started, and Donatas Motiejunas is still in limbo. The restricted free-agent big man could have accepted the Houston Rockets' one-year, $4.4 million qualifying offer up until Saturday night, but now that qualifying offer has expired. According to ESPN's Calvin Watkins, the Rockets talked to Motiejunas' agent before the deadline, but were not able to get a deal done.

This is rare but not unprecedented. Last season, Cleveland Cavaliers big man Tristan Thompson held out until way after his qualifying offer expired, eventually agreeing to a five-year, $82 million deal on Oct. 21, after all of their preseason games were over.

It is unlikely, though, that a similar payday is coming Motiejunas' way. While he is one of the more talented post players in the league, plus a pretty good outside shooter and defender, teams will be reluctant to invest long-term money in him because of his health. Motiejunas underwent surgery on his back in April 2015, and he only appeared in 37 games last season. At the trade deadline, the Detroit Pistons acquired him, but they rescinded the deal -- his back issues prevented him from passing a physical.

Donatas Motiejunas is still in limbo. USATSI

Unfortunately for Motiejunas, he is not in a position of power. Despite the deadline passing, he is still a restricted free agent, so if he signs an offer sheet with another team, the Rockets can match it. It's unclear if any team is willing to take a risk of offering him a big raise, and it's unclear if Houston would even give him $4.4 million now. The front office could decide to offer him less than that.

If the Rockets do not re-sign Motiejunas, then they will still be sacrificing frontcourt depth. They do not, however, need him in order to be competitive -- as it stands, it looks like Ryan Anderson, Clint Capela and Nene would play the vast majority of the minutes at power forward and center, with Montrezl Harrell and Chinanu Onuaku hoping to earn some playing time. This does not factor in the possibility of coach Mike D'Antoni going small and giving Trevor Ariza and K.J. McDaniels some time at the 4 spot.

For Motiejunas, if getting an acceptable long-term contract is out of the question right now, then he needs to use next season to show that he can stay on the court. There is an argument that signing the qualifying offer was his best option -- now that he can't do that, he might want to agree to a different short-term deal that would give him the chance to get some security next offseason or the following one. That's what Festus Ezeli did, taking a two-year, $14.7 million deal with the Portland Trail Blazers because of concerns about his knee.