The Lakers have opened up a roster spot. From Yahoo’s Shams Charania:
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
Andrew Bogut’s one-year deal was going to be guaranteed by this weekend. He was signed to be a veteran presence for this young Laker team. The former #1 pick played 24 out of a possible 38 games this season and started five of them. He had his most productive game in November when he scored six points and grabbed 10 boards in a loss against the Sixers. Bogut is averaging 1.5 points and 3.3 boards in only 9 minutes per game.
Bogut won an NBA title with the Golden State Warriors in 2015 so his championship experience will be valuable to a playoff contender. He was drafted by the Bucks before playing with the Warriors, Mavericks, Cavs (one game), and then the Lakers.
With Bogut gone, we’ll probably see a bit more of Thomas Bryant or maybe Ivica Zubac in the middle. Maybe the Lakers even concocted some sort of time machine and are bringing back Kareem Abdul-Jabbar from the 1980s. All kidding aside, this might just be a start of a wave of transactions from the team, which is in a huge tailspin at the moment with nine straight losses.
Been nice knowing you, Andrew.