The Los Angeles Lakers had to create space in order to sign Marcus Smart and Shake Milton ended up drawing the shortest straw. Los Angeles waived Milton right before his $3 million salary for the 2025-26 season was set to become guaranteed, completely taking him off the books in the process.
Milton's tenure with the Lakers was a short one. He was thrown into a trade that was headlined by D'Angelo Russell and Dorian Finney-Smith and wound up playing 30 games for the Lake Show. In those 30 games, he averaged 3.9 points in 11.5 minutes per game.
The 28-year-old guard's stint with the Lakers may end up being his last stint in the NBA. Instead of working out a deal with an NBA team in free agency, Milton is reportedly mulling a move to Europe. According to Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews, Milton is in advanced talks to join EuroLeague club Partizan Belgrade.
Shake Milton may be on his way out of the NBA after being waived by the Lakers
Of course, Milton could always return to the NBA after a stint in Europe and he wouldn't be the first to do that. However, it's never a great sign when a 28-year-old who is meant to be in his prime has to take his ball and play in Europe.
Partizan Belgrade is a Serbian club that features several former NBA players, some of which also spent time in the purple and gold. Frank Ntilikina, Jabari Parker, Sterling Brown and Isaac Bonga are all on the club's roster.
Brown appeared in four games for the Lakers back in what was his last NBA stint. Bonga played 22 games for the Lakers during his rookie season in 2018-19.
Milton may join the list of short-lived Lakers who play in Serbia and it's hard to forecast if he ever will come back to the NBA. While he has started 47 games in his NBA career, he has primarily been a back-of-rotation guard the last two seasons. With an influx of young guards in the league, Mitlon doesn't really add anything to a team looking for someone to add to the playoff rotation.
Either way, the Lakers clearly were planning on freeing up space by cutting ties with Milton. Even if the team didn't land Marcus Smart, it's hard to imagine the Lakers would have paid that salary for Milton to ride the pine.
The Lakers could have made the decision earlier to give Milton more opportunities to sign with an NBA team, but it may not have mattered. He may have been destined for Europe this entire time.