Two seasons ago Jabari Brown was a late-season signing for a Los Angeles Lakers team that was ravaged by injuries. Brown impressed everyone with his scoring ability and he was ultimately brought back into training camp the next season.
Unfortunately Brown had a less than stellar performance in preseason last year and he was the final cut as the Lakers decided to keep Metta World Peace instead. Brown would go play overseas last year, but came back late in the year, playing for the Los Angeles D-Fenders as well as the Lakers’ summer league team.
Brown didn’t make much of an impact this summer either, however, and now it looks like he may be headed back overseas. According to international basketball reporter David Pick, Brown is negotiating a deal with Turkish power Anadolu Efes of the Euroleague:
Source: Lakers guard Jabari Brown is negotiating a $600-plus thousand deal with Euroleague club Anadolu Efes.
— David Pick (@IAmDPick) August 3, 2016
The move back overseas is not a surprising one for Brown as he likely would wind up in the D-League by remaining in the US. Players like Brown can make a great living overseas as a pure scorer who may be a little undersized for his ideal position in the NBA.
Last year Brown dominated in the Chinese Basketball Association averaging over 32 points for the Foshan Long Lions. Replicating that in the much tougher Euroleague will be more difficult, but Andolu Efes is an extremely successful team.
Among the talent on last season’s roster was Philadelphia 76ers 2014 lottery pick Dario Saric (who is coming over to the NBA this season), as well as 2016 first round pick Furkan Korkmaz.
Hopefully Brown can get another shot in the NBA as he is certainly deserving, but even if that never happens, Brown can have a successful and lucrative career overseas just like another Lakers undersized scoring guard, Andrew Goudelock.
