The Los Angeles Lakers aren’t being active by only exploring trade possibilities or working out potential draft prospects.
They are also looking at free agents they may be able to take a flyer on.
With their limited resources, both in terms of the salary cap and trade assets, the Lakers have to get creative. To that end, the Purple and Gold recently held a minicamp for free agents, some of whom have been out of the NBA for a while.
One of the players was Darren Collison, a point guard who played 10 seasons before retiring in 2019 for religious reasons.
The Lakers held a free-agent mini-camp yesterday that featured former No. 2 pick Derrick Williams and veteran Darren Collison, league sources say. Among the other attendees: Justin Tillman, Craig Randall II, Sindarius Thornwell, Olivier Sarr, Antonio Blakeney and Jaylen Adams.
— JD Shaw (@JShawNBA) June 22, 2022
Collison returned to the league this season on a 10-day contract with L.A. He played in three games and put up minimal numbers before being let go.
Before leaving the game in 2019, he had averaged 12.5 points and 5.0 assists a game while shooting 39.4% from 3-point range.
He will turn 35 this summer, but if he’s in game shape and ready fully commit to basketball again, he could be a decent pickup on a veteran’s minimum contract.
Derrick Williams, another veteran the Lakers worked out, was the second pick in the 2011 NBA draft. He stands 6 feet, 8 inches and weighs 240 pounds. He averaged 8.9 points and 4.0 rebounds in 20.7 minutes a game through seven seasons in the league.
Williams hasn’t played in the NBA since the 2017-18 campaign.
