The Lakers‘ NBAGL affiliate club, the South Bay Lakers, will sign free agent point guard Darren Collison, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter). Charania notes that South Bay is currently the second seed, and that the addition of Collison could help the club make a postseason push. Charania writes that Collison is also hoping to make an impression on NBA clubs in the hopes of a call-up.
Collison, 34, initially retired in the 2019 offseason but returned this year on a 10-day hardship exception contract with the Lakers. In 12.3 MPG across three games with Los Angeles, Collison looked rusty, to say the least. The 6’0″ guard averaged 1.3 PPG on 28.6% field goal shooting, plus 1.3 RPG and 0.7 APG.
He holds career averages of 12.5 PPG, 5.0 APG and 2.7 RPG in 711 career NBA games, on .471/.394/.853 shooting splits.
Signing with South Bay represents something of a homecoming for Collison. A native of the Southern California suburb of Rancho Cucamonga, Collison was selected with the No. 21 pick out of UCLA by the then-New Orleans Hornets in 2009. In 10 NBA seasons prior to his first retirement, he also suited up for the Pacers in two separate stints, the Mavericks, Clippers, and Kings.
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