This likely isn’t going anywhere for the same reason it hasn’t gone anywhere with Indiana or San Antonio or a host of other NBA teams.
But a day after a report surfaced that the Lakers had some interest in Raja Bell if he reaches a buyout deal with Utah, comes this report about the Lakers having interest in Mickael Pietrus, via Marc Spears of Yahoo Sports.Add Mickael Pietrus to list of FA guards @lakers inquired about recently,source tells Y! @wojyahoonba reported LAL interest in Raja Bell,too
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) November 24, 2012
Pietrus has refused to accept the league minimum to join a team so far and there is no chance the Lakers and their league-high payroll can or would offer more than that. My guess is that his agent or people around Pietrus are leaking a lot of these offers trying to convince teams there is a lot of interest in him, driving up the price.
Good luck with that. He came off the bench in Boston last season and while you may remember a couple big shots in the playoffs he shot just 38.5 percent in the regular season and 32 percent in the postseason last year. The last time he had a PER of 13 (still below the league average) it was 2007. The Lakers have plenty of guys who can clank an 18-foot jumper, they don’t need another.
What is clear from all of this is that the Lakers are looking for options with their struggling team.