The Lakers are moving on from Andrew Bogut.
The Los Angeles Lakers are currently in the midst of a nine-game losing streak, and the last game they won came in Houston, where they ended the Rockets’ long winning streak. They’ve suffered from a plethora of injuries at the same time, including to Lonzo Ball and Brook Lopez.
The way things are going it’s looking like LaVar Ball’s prediction of the Lakers making the playoffs this season won’t be coming to fruition. That being the case, some of the veterans on one-year deals may be on their way to finding greener pastures. Andrew Bogut is the first man headed out the door.
Sources: The Los Angeles Lakers are releasing center Andrew Bogut. With Lakers at 11-27, this allows sides to part ways and Bogut to pivot toward signing with a playoff team.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 6, 2018
The Lakers are releasing veteran center Bogut in a mutual agreement. Releasing Bogut gives the Lakers an extra roster spot for a young guy, and it gives Bogut the chance to sign with a playoff team in hopes he can win a title.
Bogut signed a one-year deal with the Lakers this offseason, and this was most likely never going to last because the Lakers had guys like Larry Nance, Julius Randle and Brook Lopez on the roster so Bogut would be more of a veteran locker room presence for the young guys.
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The 33-year-old veteran has only appeared in 24 games this season including five starts averaging only nine minutes per game. If you may recall, Bogut was in this situation last season when he signed with the Cavaliers, but broke his leg just minutes after making his season debut.
With the free roster spot the Lakers reportedly plan to find some shooting on a 10-day contract among an available pool of players according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Shooting wouldn’t be bad for the Lakers seeing as they’re dead last in 3-point shooting, and have shot a whopping 29.5 percent from 3 the last three games.