Lakers Rumors: Darren Collison considers a return to Lakers or Clippers
By Ronald Agers
Who’s Darren Collison and why is he in the Lakers rumors talk these days.
What the big story about Darren Collison’s retirement was the shock waves sent around the NBA. It was rumored that Collison could have collected a four-year contract worth $80 million or more in last summer’s free agency bonanza. While the Pacers were looking to move on from him with Malcolm Brogdon in the fold, there was an NBA checkbook somewhere for Collison’s services.
Collison stated to ESPN’s The Undefeated that he retired to focus on his faith and his status as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Now that he wants to return, let’s look at the tale of the tape.
Collison entered the NBA in 2009 as the No. 21 overall pick in the draft by the New Orleans Hornets out of UCLA. He played for 10 years with the aforementioned Hornets, Indiana Pacers, Dallas Mavericks, Clippers and Sacramento Kings.
In 708 career regular-season games, Darren Collison put up career numbers of 12.5 points, 5.0 assists, 2.7 rebounds and 1.2 steals shooting 47.1% from the field, 39.4% from beyond the arc and knocking down 85.3% from the charity stripe.
Last season, Collison started 76 games for the Pacers averaging 11.2 points, 6.0 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 1.4 steals per contest.
Collison’s best season came in 2014-15 with the Kings when he averaged career highs in points (16.1), rebounds (3.2) and steals (1.5). He was a solid playmaker as well, collecting 5.6 assists per game.
The question now is if he’s worth all of this drama between the two L.A. teams.
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The answer is who knows? For the Lakers, it’s clear. The Lakers need another playmaker and defender to come off the bench. Darren Collison is an inexpensive major upgrade that will help the Lakers chances of succeeding in the playoffs.