Delonte West targeted by Los Angeles Lakers, according to report
Delonte West, one of my favorite Boston Celtics ever despite his one major bout with legality, is being targeted by the Los Angeles Lakers. (ESPN)
The Lakers have interest in Delonte West, who played for coach Mike Brown in Cleveland and last played for Boston, as a potential fill-in at guard and also are keen on Indiana free agent Josh McRoberts, according to a source with knowledge of their thinking. ESPN.com’s Marc Stein reported that Denver free-agent guard Arron Afflalo is also on the Lakers’ radar.
The elephant in the room, of course, was Orlando’s 6-foot-11, 265-pound center Dwight Howard, whose contract with the Magic expires at the end of the season. Unless Howard signs an extension with the Magic, the expectation is Orlando will trade him and Los Angeles is a possible destination. Stein and ESPN Insider Chad Ford reported this week that L.A. is expected to offer “some combination” of Andrew Bynum, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom for Howard.
Kupchak side-stepped a direction question about L.A.’s interest in Howard.
“Obviously talking about other team’s players would be considered tampering, so I wouldn’t answer that question,” Kupchak said.
Last offseason, if you can recall, the free agent market for West was very limited because of behavioral issues. Definitely not a veteran’s minimum player, West signed a minimum deal with the Celtics, who were one of few suitors willing to overlook his troublesome recent past.
This offseason, things are probably going to be different. NBA teams know West can play. They know he’s a gamer unafraid of the moment. They know he’s a smart player who can create offense on one end and frustrate offense on the other. And now, after a (mostly) incident-free year in Boston, West’s personal problems are less of an issue.
There’s going to be a market for Delonte West. It already includes the Lakers. The question now becomes whether the Celtics can afford to keep him. Losing West would be a major blow to Boston’s bench, especially if the injury issues that plagued him last season become shelved in the past.
Related posts:
Celtics Blog | Jay King | December 3, 2011
Boston Celtics rumors 2011, Delonte West, Los Angeles Lakers
damn id hate to see delonte in a purple and gold jersey…
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I can agree with getting rid of injury hurdled Matt Barnes and Drew Bynum, who miss more games due to injury than they play! But there are’nt many better forwards than Pau Casol. Also Koby & Casol play well together. I feel getting rid of Casol is a big mistake!
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Losing West is a huge blow, if it happens. But loyalty doesn’t mean what it did six months ago.
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TruthfuLly, I’d rather have Shannon Brown than West as ‘rumors’ about the Cs having interest in him. Surfaced this past week. Let’s see where DW’s loyalty is considering all his talk about the Cs last season. The money will come once the Big 3 contracts end which hopefully will allow them to stay on but not at the levels they are now. Pay KG $10MM next season and give RA $6-7MM and you’ve cut $13MM to spread around to role players like DW. So sign him to a 1-yr deal and bump it up in 2013…now that would be loyalty on both sides. Go Cs…
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@james WHY would the celtics give a 37 year old kg 10 million. 13 million to spread around role players? after this season its tim to move on from this big 3 era
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So KG is finished and can’t play anymore basically 11 months from now? Do you really think a guy in his shape and with that mind-set (same goes for RA) is just going off into the sunset when the fire still burns? If the Cs win a title this year then maybe but why not have them come off the bench? Get some younger starters and let KG and RA get 20 mins a game. Same goes for PP. It’s all about winning titles and maybe this is a way they can play through the next couple of years. I should have said role players and FAs which would mean new starters for the Big 3 positions. Let’s wait and hear what KG/RA/PP
Have to say about their futures beyond this season. Go Cs…
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kg coming off the bench isnt the problem. him getting 10 million a season and only have 13 million to spread around new star players is the problem. kg isnt an elite player anymore, and after this season its time to move on from the big 3. will kg and ray’s contract get some young superstars, and im sure ray allen can play for another 2 years, but not so sure about kg. either way theyre going to have to sign for cheap, cus were not even guna come close to winning without another superstar after this season
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KG’s making $20MM this year so I think he’s going to want at least half (as RA took when his contract was downsized) especially if he puts up KG type numbers and stays healthy. If not he may balk at a 75% cut say to $5MM. Getting a new ‘superstar’ usuaLly only happens through the draft and the Cs still will have too much talent to fall into the lottery and they have nothing to trade other than Rondo, which makes no sense. Cs are going to be in limbo land if KG decides to return as far as rebuilding so it’s going to be interesting to see if they blow it up or find a FA as that star you speak of and that is needed to build around. I hope KG has a great year and then accepts coming off the bench for a year or two as maybe some young star(s) will buy into that for more title runs. Go Cs…
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