Metta World Peace re-signs with the Los Angeles Lakers
By John Buhler
16-year NBA veteran small forward Metta World Peace has agreed to a new deal to return to the Los Angeles Lakers for the 2016-17 NBA season.
The Los Angeles Lakers are coming off their worst season ever, a 17-win 2015-16 campaign that saw Kobe Bryant ride off into the sunset on a 50-point performance against the Utah Jazz on the final day of the season.
Los Angeles has a new head coach in former Laker and Golden State Warriors top assistant Luke Walton. He’ll need some much-needed veteran leadership to help guide possibly the worst team in the NBA’s Western Conference in his first year at the helm of the Lakers.
Walton gets some help by having NBA veteran small forward Metta World Peace come back into the fold in 2016-17. Shams Charania of The Vertical at Yahoo! Sports reports that World Peace will re-sign with the Lakers.
Metta World Peace has reached agreement on a deal to re-sign with the Los Angeles Lakers, league sources tell The Vertical.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 21, 2016
World Peace has been with the Lakers five of the last seven seasons. He won his only NBA Championship to date with the 2009-10 Lakers. He has spent a little more than a third of his NBA career with the Los Angeles basketball franchise.
By re-signing World Peace, Walton has himself essentially a player/coach. World Peace still plays hard at age 36 and was one of the best perimeter defenders in the game in his prime. Defensive prowess will help this young Lakers team accelerate in their rebuilding process.
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Keeping a savvy veteran like World Peace around gives the Lakers another elder voice to help guide this young team. World Peace, Luol Deng and Timofey Mozgov will provide leadership for this young corps in 2016-17. Signing World Peace was a wise move for the Lakers front office to make.