Lakers interested in Mickael Pietrus, reporter tweets
According to Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports, the Lakers are interested in free agent Mickael Pietrus.
Pietrus is a nine-year veteran guard/forward who has logged seasons with the Golden State Warriors, Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns and Boston Celtics. In his time with the Suns, he played for Alvin Gentry, who ran a similar offense to what Mike D’Antoni utilized in his Phoenix tenure with Steve Nash. Pietrus also played in the NBA Finals against the Lakers as a teammate of Dwight Howard.
Spears simply noted that Pietrus is should be added to the list of free agents the team has “inquired about recently.” Yahoo colleague Adrian Wojnarowski also reported the Lakers have some interest in Utah Jazz guard Raja Bell.
The Lakers haven’t gotten consistent production from guard Jodie Meeks and swingman Devin Ebanks behind Kobe Bryant. Pietrus has had feelers from various teams but has resisted offers at the league minimum.
The NBA allows teams to carry up to 15 players. The Lakers currently have 15 on the roster but two have non-guaranteed players (Robert Sacre and Darius Johnson-Odom). If the Lakers cannot open up room via a trade, they can also buy-out a guaranteed player should they choose to do so.
The Lakers have this year’s min-mid-level exception ($3.09 million) to spend on free agency but already used $1.5 million on Meeks, leaving up to $1.59 million for a free agent like Pietrus.
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You can email Eric Pincus at eric.pincus@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @EricPincus.
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