The Los Angeles Lakers have only two spots remaining on their roster for guaranteed contracts after signing free agents Chris Kaman, Nick Young, Jordan Farmar and Wesley Johnson.
According to Alex Kennedy of Hoopsworld.com, the Lakers have expressed interest in signing forward Austin Daye for one of the two spots after working him out on Wednesday:
The Los Angeles Lakers have expressed interest in free agent Austin Daye, according to sources. Daye worked out for the Lakers today.
— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) July 25, 2013
Over the past few weeks, the Lakers’ front office has been gauging interest around the league in terms of players that would be willing to sign with the team for the veteran’s minimum. Daye appears to be one of those players after five seasons in the league.
Daye is a California native who played his high school basketball in Irvine at Woodbridge. The veteran forward went to Gonzaga and was selected with the 15th overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons.
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Unfortunately for Daye, the forward simply hasn’t been able to live up to expectations since being drafted out of Gonzaga. Daye played his first four seasons in the league with the Pistons and went to Russia to play BC Khimki during the 2011 NBA lockout.
After a short stint in Russia, Daye returned to the Pistons and was traded along with Tayshaun Prince to the Memphis Grizzlies in a three-team deal that resulted in Jose Calderon heading to Detroit and Rudy Gay being shipped to the Toronto Raptors.
In five seasons in the NBA, Daye averaged 5.6 points and 2.8 rebounds per game while playing 15.4 minutes per contest at the small forward position.
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