The Lakers are doing their due diligence and looking in all corners for a diamond in the rough.
The Los Angeles Lakers aren’t being active by only exploring trade possibilities or working out potential draft prospects.
They are also looking at free agents they may be able to take a flyer on.
With their limited resources, both in terms of the salary cap and trade assets, the Lakers have to get creative. To that end, the Purple and Gold recently held a minicamp for free agents, some of whom have been out of the NBA for a while.
One of the players was Darren Collison, a point guard who played 10 seasons before retiring in 2019 for religious reasons.
The Lakers held a free-agent mini-camp yesterday that featured former No. 2 pick Derrick Williams and veteran Darren Collison, league sources say. Among the other attendees: Justin Tillman, Craig Randall II, Sindarius Thornwell, Olivier Sarr, Antonio Blakeney and Jaylen Adams.
Collison returned to the league this season on a 10-day contract with L.A. He played in three games and put up minimal numbers before being let go.
Before leaving the game in 2019, he had averaged 12.5 points and 5.0 assists a game while shooting 39.4% from 3-point range.
He will turn 35 this summer, but if he’s in game shape and ready fully commit to basketball again, he could be a decent pickup on a veteran’s minimum contract.
Derrick Williams, another veteran the Lakers worked out, was the second pick in the 2011 NBA draft. He stands 6 feet, 8 inches and weighs 240 pounds. He averaged 8.9 points and 4.0 rebounds in 20.7 minutes a game through seven seasons in the league.
Williams hasn’t played in the NBA since the 2017-18 campaign.
After being out of the NBA for a couple of years, Darren Collison is giving pro ball another try with the South Bay Lakers of the G League.
The Lakers have struggled all season long with serviceable roster depth. A few months ago, in the hopes of rectifying that weakness, they signed veteran point guard Darren Collison to a 10-day contract.
He played in three contests and did very little of note, averaging 1.3 points and 0.7 assists in 12.3 minutes a game while shooting 28.3% from the field, and the team decided against keeping him.
Now, it appears Collison wants to give returning to the association another try. To that end, the Lakers assigned him to their G League affiliate team, the South Bay Lakers.
Sources: Free agent guard Darren Collison is joining the Los Angeles Lakers’ G League affiliate – South Bay Lakers (17-9) – in hopes of helping lead the No. 2 seed to a G League title as well as earning a call-up to an NBA team.
Although Collison is 34 years old, which is the NBA equivalent of being bout 65 in the real world working a normal career, he has been mostly out of pro basketball since 2019.
He left the game to focus on his spirituality. He is extremely religious, and in a first-person piece he penned for “The Undefeated,” he said he was leaving the game to focus on being a Jehovah’s Witness.
Perhaps, he’s ready to finish what he started on the hardwood.
In his first 10 seasons in the NBA, before he left to focus on his faith, he was a good player, averaging 12.5 points and 5.0 assists in 29.4 minutes per game while shooting 47.1% from the field and 39.4 percent from 3-point range.
He was known as a quick guard who could penetrate, hit from the outside and make simple but good passes to the open man.
If he does well in the G League, could he get another chance with the big league Lakers next season?
Collison, 34, makes his NBA comeback after retiring in 2019. He pondered returning multiple times since and had been linked to the Lakers during those times, but a deal never came to fruition.
Collison has long been a facilitating, pass-first point guard who could hit open catch-and-shoot looks, but how he’ll play after being out for so long is unknown.
Johnson joined the South Bay Lakers, the G League affiliate, to start the season and is a strong defender despite not developing into an average shooter.
Collison’s addition could put Isaiah Thomas’ spot on the roster in jeopardy. Thomas signed a 10-day deal last week but hasn’t impressed in the last few games because of poor shooting combined with inadequate defense.
Former NBA point guard Darren Collison reportedly is seeking a training camp invite from the Los Angeles Lakers.
Following Marc Gasol’s departure, the Los Angeles Lakers are back to having 13 guaranteed spots on the roster with two left to fill.
The Lakers plan to just use one of those roster spots, and a wing like James Ennis could be a possibility given his two-way ability and general lack of depth in that area.
L.A. could also seek out a center to replace the hole Gasol left, but there are options whichever route Los Angeles chooses, including point guard.
According to Anthony Slater of The Athletic, former NBA point guard Darren Collison is hoping the Lakers invite him to training camp:
Those in the gym when Collison visited said he looked solid — in basketball playing shape and showing flashes of his former self in a pickup setting.
But nobody, in that brief of a glimpse, was comfortable predicting whether Collison would be anywhere near the player who averaged 11.2 points and 6.0 assists as a starting point guard on a Pacers team that made the 2019 playoffs. If he was, he’d be a slam dunk in that 15th spot. But if he is (or even if he isn’t), would he be willing to take a prove-it non-guaranteed camp invite? There’s also buzz he might be eyeing a Lakers camp invite.
As Slater wrote, Collison is far removed from averaging those numbers; he’s now 34 years old and hasn’t played in the league since 2018.
But even if Collison received an invite, it’s difficult to envision him making the roster given all the ball-handling guards the Lakers have: Rondo, Russell Westbrook, Kendrick Nunn, Talen Horton-Tucker, Malik Monk.
While working out for the Warriors, free-agent guard Darren Collison reportedly scrimmaged with Steph Curry, Jordan Poole and others.
It’s been two seasons since Darren Collison laced up for an NBA game, but the veteran guard could be eyeing a return to the league. According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports, the 34-year-old recently was scheduled for a workout with the Golden State Warriors.
Darren Collison was in the Warriors’ facility on Wednesday and will be there again on Thursday, working out with some current players. Steph Curry and Jordan Poole were among those scrimmaging with him in the facility.
If Collison lands with the Warriors for the upcoming 2021-22 season, he would likely play alongside Poole in the second unit behind Curry in the backcourt. Despite retiring two seasons ago, the UCLA product could quickly provide some needed experience as a ball-handler off the bench for Steve Kerr.
Collison’s last played the 2018-19 season with the Indiana Pacers, averaging 11.2 points on 46.7% shooting from the floor with six assists, 3.1 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 28.2 minutes per game.
While playing 10 seasons in the NBA, Collison has had stops with the Pacers, New Orleans Hornets, Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Clippers and Sacramento Kings. Over his career, Collison has made five appearances in the postseason.
Collison could join Golden State’s trio of veteran free agent signings from the 2021 offseason, including Otto Porter Jr., Nemanja Bjelica and Andre Iguodala.
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Before the start of the new NBA season, the Golden State Warriors will reportedly work out veteran free agent guard Darren Collison.
After signing proven players like Andre Iguodala, Otto Porter Jr. and Nemanja Bjelica in free agency, the Golden State Warriors could have their eyes on another veteran before the start of the 2021-22 season.
According to Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports, the Warriors will work out free agent guard Darren Collison. The veteran guard retired in 2019 and hasn’t played a full season since the 2018-19 campaign with the Indiana Pacers.
Before retiring, Collison averaged 11.2 points on 46.7% shooting from the floor with six assists, 3.1 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 28.2 minutes per game for the Pacers. Over his final four seasons, the UCLA product shot over 40% from long distance on 2.7 3-point attempts per game.
The 34-year-old guard also has postseason experience, playing in the playoffs five times in his 10-year career.
Along with playing in Indiana, Collison has played with the New Orleans Hornets, Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Clippers and Sacramento Kings.
While he might be a different player after two seasons away from the game, Collison could provide the Warriors with a proven ball-handler off the bench behind Steph Curry.
The Los Angeles Lakers want to add another point guard behind Russell Westbrook and Kendrick Nunn along with another wing.
Even though the 2021 free agency period has slowed with the big names off the board, the Los Angeles Lakers aren’t done.
The Lakers have only 12 roster spots filled. Mac McClung and Chaundee Brown are on better training camp deals; both are vying for roster spots, but the Lakers have also been working out veterans.
Recent reports indicated L.A. has worked out guards Isaiah Thomas, Darren Collison and Mike James. Any of the three would likely finalize the point guard position on the depth chart.
Los Angeles has Russell Westbrook and Kendrick Nunn at the point, but both are scoring guards while the three mentioned above are facilitators. Adding another player at the one, and perhaps another wing, is what the Lakers want to do, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports:
A third point guard is a priority, sources said, along with potentially adding another wing.
A wing name that hasn’t been signed is James Ennis, who played for the Orlando Magic last season. The Lakers reportedly have interest in the 31-year-old wing who shot 43.3% from deep on 2.5 attempts last season.
JaKarr Sampson and Tim Frazier both have popped up as possible candidates, but the former is more of a small-ball five while Frazier isn’t as adept as the other three guards above L.A. worked out.
The Los Angeles Lakers reportedly worked out guard Darren Collison with three roster spots still open.
With three roster spots left to finalize, the Los Angeles Lakers are working out more players to figure out who to sign.
Los Angeles could profit from adding more pure point guards who don’t have a score-first mentality, as is the case with current point guards Russell Westbrook and Kendrick Nunn.
Of course, whoever the Lakers sign would be for depth, as Westbrook and Nunn are slated to receive the heavy dosage of minutes at the one.
“The Los Angeles Lakers are actively surveying the landscape to eventually fill out the roster with more depth, and have done so in recently working out Isaiah Thomas, Darren Collison and Mike James, league sources told Yahoo Sports.”
Collison, who turns 34 soon, last played for the Indiana Pacers in 2018-19 and hasn’t played in the NBA since.
He shot 39.4% from deep throughout his career, despite low volume, and could facilitate an offense without looking to find his own shot.
Collison technically retired after his last season but there were rumors of his interest to return and play for one of the L.A. teams in the 2019-20 campaign, though he ultimately stayed retired. It’ll be interesting to see how Collison’s workout influenced the Lakers’ decision-making process on who to sign.
The NBA will allow teams to sign a replacement player if there’s an injury, a positive COVID-19 test or a player who chooses to sit out.
As the NBA prepares to resume the 2019-20 season in July, more details about the league’s plan are coming to light. In the event of an injury or a positive COVID-19 test during training camp or the regular season, teams will be able to sign replacement players from the free-agent pool.
The NBA will allow each team to bring 17 players (including their two-way guys) to Disney’s Wide World of Sports. There won’t be a limit on how many replacement players a team can sign, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Once the playoffs start on August 17, teams won’t be able to add any replacement players.
Every night, players will be tested for COVID-19; if a player tests positive, they must self-quarantine for 10-14 days while their team continues playing.
Not only will replacement players be necessary in the event of positive tests, they also could be called upon if a player is injured. Most teams will arrive in Orlando healthier than usual at this point in the season thanks to the four-month break, but a number of trainers and players have expressed concern that there could be more injuries than usual when the season resumes. After all, players have been working out on their own since mid-March and it’s hard to mimic game movements and intensity while training alone. Ramping back up slowly with a training camp (and potentially two or three exhibition games) should help, but there’s still increased injury risk.
Because this is an unprecedented situation, people around the NBA have no idea how teams will approach this transaction window and how many replacement players will be signed.
“I’m not sure if teams will rush to sign guys,” an agent said. “NBA rosters are already the biggest of any major sport in terms of the ratio of players on the roster to players on the court/field,” the agent explained. “In the NBA, it’s 15:5 (or 3:1) whereas it’s 25:9 (or 2.8:1) in MLB and 53:22 (or 2.4:1) in the NFL. And that doesn’t even include two-way players. I’m sure every team is aware of all the available G League guys and free agents. But in the playoffs, most rotations shrink to nine or 10 guys anyway. So, if you have 15 players, you should have five extra guys.”
“I’m curious to see if teams will sign free agents,” one Western Conference executive added. “I have no idea what will happen. At the end of the day, we’re just talking about a 15th man most likely, right?”
One Eastern Conference general manager pointed out that some teams may not consider signing replacement players at all, even if there is an injury or a positive COVID-19 test. Since a replacement player would have to quarantine for 10-14 days before playing, the team’s injured or sick player may be close to returning by the time the replacement player is finally able to take the court.
“I think as long as a team doesn’t have multiple players who get sick at the same time, they won’t sign anyone,” the general manager said. “I think most teams will just wait for their sick player to return.”
Some NBA teams with an open roster spot may decide to sign a free agent prior to arriving in Orlando rather than waiting until an injury or positive test occurs to address their depth. Technically, this player wouldn’t be a “replacement player,” but he’d be stashed on their roster in case of emergency. This would allow the player to go through training camp with the team as well as the initial quarantine period in Orlando. Then, if there is an injury or positive test, he would be able to play right away rather than having to quarantine for 10-14 days upon arrival like a replacement player would have to do.
Recently, there’s been a lot of discussion about how some players may choose not to play when the season resumes in Orlando. In recent weeks, a number of executives brought up this possibility and openly wondered what would happen if their players sit out because they didn’t want to be in the bubble for months and risk their health. Now, some players are also concerned that resuming play would shift the public’s focus away from the Black Lives Matter movement.
While it’s possible that enough NBA players speaking up would force the NBPA to back out of the plan to resume play, it seems more likely that the NBA will just allow each player to make their own decision when it comes to participating. If a player chooses to sit out, their team will resume play without them. These players wouldn’t face any consequences (aside from not being paid) and NBA teams would be allowed to sign a replacement player to take their place, according to a recent article by Wojnarowski.
There’s also some concern that players on fringe playoff teams will opt to play, but then want to leave the bubble or sit out as soon as their team is mathematically eliminated from the postseason. Players won’t want to put their health at risk and stay in the bubble if they aren’t playing for something. Some players (such as Damian Lillard) have already said that they wouldn’t risk their health to participate in meaningless games, and who could blame them?
“I feel like the eighth seed and the ninth seed could partially be determined by whose schedule sets them up against teams who are ‘tanking’ at the end,” said one Western Conference executive.
DeMarcus Cousins is one of the free agents who’s eligible to be signed. (Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports)
Interestingly, not all free agents are eligible to be signed as replacement players.
In order to be eligible, a player had to be on an NBA or G League roster this season or last season. Players who were overseas as of March 11, 2020 (when the NBA season was suspended) are not eligible to be signed, which rules out some notable free agents such as Lance Stephenson, Donatas Motiejunas, Greg Monroe and Miles Plumlee. If a player started the season overseas but got a FIBA clearance before March 11, they are eligible to be signed as long as they were on an NBA or G League roster in 2019-20 or 2018-19 (like Willie Reed, for example, who was in Greece to start the season but then got his FIBA clearance and signed with a G League team).
There are plenty of of notable free agents and former G League players who are eligible to be signed including DeMarcus Cousins, Isaiah Thomas, Darren Collison, Jamal Crawford, Iman Shumpert, JR Smith, Nik Stauskas, Kenneth Faried, Tyler Zeller, Jerian Grant, Corey Brewer, Tyler Johnson, Jodie Meeks, Michael Beasley, Nick Young, Trey Burke, Allen Crabbe, Jordan Bell, Justin Anderson, Tim Frazier, Tyrone Wallace, Ivan Rabb, Jarrod Uthoff, Amile Jefferson, Jonah Bolden, Tyler Ennis, Josh Magette, JP Macura, Ryan Broekhoff and Yante Maten among others.
While it’ll be interesting to see how the 22 NBA teams in the bubble utilize the replacement players, the eight teams who aren’t resuming play will be allowed to sign players during this transaction window too. Don’t be surprised if some of these teams take advantage of this opportunity to add a free agent and acquire their Bird rights.
“I would be on the lookout for a smart non-bubble team to add someone during the transaction window,” one NBA agent said. “Any team can sign guys from that same pool of talent and, I assume, pay guys the same pro-rated amount.”
In Wojnarowski’s article about replacement players, he confirmed that “the eight teams left out of the Orlando resumption are allowed to waive or sign players during the transaction window,” although “they cannot sign a player to a two-way contract.”
It’s worth noting that a lot of these details are still being worked out and nothing is official as of yet. Several agents and executives pointed out that they’re receiving these updates through social media, just like the rest of us, and awaiting further instruction from the league or NBPA.
If a player gets hurt or catches coronavirus once teams are in Orlando, the pool of players to replace them will be limited, and these are the best shooters available.
The Boston Celtics and 21 other teams finishing the 2019-20 NBA season in at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports complex in Lake Buena Vista, Florida will need to tap into a limited pool of players if anyone ends up getting injured — or worse, comes down with the coronavirus behind the pandemic.
Teams will be limited to players who have signed with an NBA or G League team this season or last, and any team who decides to go this route will have to keep the player they are replacing out for the rest of the season.
So, with a very deep roster with every slot occupied by a player as good as most of the options they’d be replaced by, the chances of the Celtics dipping their toe in this particular pool is slim, but real.
Should the need arise, it’s possible the position they play and skillset they possess will dictate what the Celtics will be looking for in a replacement.
But, if a player who doesn’t spend much time in the rotation ends up with a high ankle sprain six games into the restart, it might make more sense to replace them with a player possessing skills Boston currently lacks.
And what skill does Boston need more than bench shooting?
To that end, the Celtics Wire put together a shortlist of the best shooters likely available to play in the ‘Orlando bubble’ — and no, Jamal Crawford isn’t among them (the veteran guard recorded just a 33.1 % rate from 3-point range over the last two seasons).
So if not Crawford, then who?
Let’s take a look at the six best options, noting their 3-point percentage at their last stop in the NBA.
