The Lakers have struggled all season long with serviceable roster depth. A few months ago, in the hopes of rectifying that weakness, they signed veteran point guard Darren Collison to a 10-day contract.
He played in three contests and did very little of note, averaging 1.3 points and 0.7 assists in 12.3 minutes a game while shooting 28.3% from the field, and the team decided against keeping him.
Now, it appears Collison wants to give returning to the association another try. To that end, the Lakers assigned him to their G League affiliate team, the South Bay Lakers.
Sources: Free agent guard Darren Collison is joining the Los Angeles Lakers’ G League affiliate – South Bay Lakers (17-9) – in hopes of helping lead the No. 2 seed to a G League title as well as earning a call-up to an NBA team.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 22, 2022
Although Collison is 34 years old, which is the NBA equivalent of being bout 65 in the real world working a normal career, he has been mostly out of pro basketball since 2019.
He left the game to focus on his spirituality. He is extremely religious, and in a first-person piece he penned for “The Undefeated,” he said he was leaving the game to focus on being a Jehovah’s Witness.
Perhaps, he’s ready to finish what he started on the hardwood.
In his first 10 seasons in the NBA, before he left to focus on his faith, he was a good player, averaging 12.5 points and 5.0 assists in 29.4 minutes per game while shooting 47.1% from the field and 39.4 percent from 3-point range.
He was known as a quick guard who could penetrate, hit from the outside and make simple but good passes to the open man.
If he does well in the G League, could he get another chance with the big league Lakers next season?
