The life of an NBA player isn’t always easy. Stanford’s Anthony Brown was selected with the 34th pick in the 2015 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers with the hopes of him becoming the prototypical “3-and-D” player that they lacked. With his reputation for playing stingy defense and 44 percent shooting from three in college, he looked like a sure-thing to become at least a rotation player in the NBA.
Unfortunately, sometimes even the best-laid plans go awry. While Brown’s defense continued to be good as a pro, his shot deserted him, shooting just 31 percent from the field and 29 percent from three with the Lakers during the 2015-16 season. While Brown hoped to turn things around this season, the Lakers waived him and center Yi Jianlian in order to get their roster down to the NBA maximum of 15 players.
Lakers coach Luke Walton gave the following reasons for cutting Brown, via Jesse Dougherty of the Los Angeles Times:
“That was tough. Just with the team we have and so many young guys, and we have so many twos and threes as it is right now. With Nick [Young] playing as well as he’s playing, and signing [Luol] Deng and drafting Brandon [Ingram], it was tough to find him opportunities out there.”
Essentially, the resurrection of Young, the addition of Brandon Ingram, and Metta World Peace‘s value as a mentor pushed the 24-year-old Brown out of the equation. Now, he will attempt to revive his career in the D-League, where he was selected with the first overall pick in the 2016 D-DLeague Draft by the Erie Bayhawks.
Brown spent time in the D-League last year playing for the Lakers’ D-League affiliate, the D-Fenders, but he was entered into the draft pool after being waived by Los Angeles, which made him able to be drafted by any team. The Bayhawks are the D-League affiliate of the Orlando Magic.