D.J. Augustin brought a breath of fresh air after signing with the Los Angeles Lakers, even if L.A. didn’t ultimately make the playoffs.
Augustin boosted the Lakers’ outside shooting, making 42.6% of his triples. In the 21 games he played for the Purple and Gold, the 34-year-old averaged 5.3 points and 1.6 assists, clocking in 17.8 minutes per night.
However, the veteran sharpshooter acknowledged he isn’t sure whether the Lakers will bring him back in next season. “I mean this is a business,” he said during his exit interview.
“I’ve been playing for 14 years in the league, I know how this goes. Hopefully, we do have some type of conversation this summer, but at this point, you never know.
“Coach Vogel was let go today, which is kind of a big loss for our organization and guys that knew him. So that’s one thing that happened and there’s probably other things that may happen and those things are probably more important than I am. So when that time comes, hopefully, something is there. I’m definitely open to it but nothing was said, nothing is expected.”
Augustin previously said he was glad that he had made the decision to sign with the Lakers after a difficult spell with the Houston Rockets. Before his move to L.A., the guard had made just five appearances since Christmas which, he revealed, made him consider retirement.
But Augustin said his brief spell with the Lakers reigned his love for the game.
“That’s something I did tell Rob and Kurt when I was up there that I think that because when the Rockets did waive me, I was home for about three weeks,” the guard said.
“I had other teams calling me but at that point, I was kind of, I wouldn’t say done but I was I guess mentally kind of checked out just because of everything that went on in Houston and things like that. But me coming here, it kind of flipped a switch for me to get back into that basketball mindset and NBA player mindset that I loved for all these years.
“It definitely put me in a place where I do want to continue to play if things work out. Because at the point before I came here, I wasn’t at that point. I definitely appreciate them and the organization for doing that for me mentally.”
Augustin enjoyed camaraderie while with Lakers
Augustin said felt welcomed after arriving in L.A. and will have fond memories of his time with the team — despite the disappointing end to the 2021-22 season.
“It’s not a long time so I didn’t have a lot of time to really do a whole lot but when I was here, I just tried to make the best of it, help the guys on and off the court, and just tried to reach our goal,” he said.
“We came up short but everybody was great, everybody had a great attitude and things like this happen.”
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