On December 25, Beijing time, the Los Angeles Lakers officially announced that the team used the difficult exception to sign a 10-day contract with Darren Collison and Stanley Johnson. At 1.98 meters tall, Stanley Johnson is 25 years old and plays as a small forward. He was the No. 8 pick in the first round of 2015 and averaged 6.2 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game in the NBA.
Although Stanley Johnson is less than 2 meters tall, he is a striker and the 25-year-old is in the middle of the game. But Darren Collison was born on August 23, 1987, and now 34 years old, he is 1.83 meters tall, not much taller than Thomas Jr. In June 2019, Collison announced his retirement, having not played in the NBA for more than two years.
Thomas Jr.'s 10-day contract expires on December 27, which means that he will leave the Lakers after the Christmas war. Thomas Jr. played in 4 games for the Lakers, the team 0-4, he averaged 25.2 minutes per game, 9.2 points, 2 rebounds and 1.5 assists, shooting 30.8% from the field and only 22.7% from three-point range.
Lakers reporter Harrison Faigen wrote: "The Lakers signed Collison, which is not good news for Thomas Jr. That means he'll be leaving at the end of his 10-day contract. Thomas Jr. didn't have the ball on the offensive end, and the defensive end was targeted by opponents and chased after him. Judging from the performance of these four games, IT is really difficult to stay in the Lakers.
Lakers fans are no strangers to Collison, and he tried for the Lakers twice in February 2020 and August 2021. In the 2018-19 season, Collison played as a starting point guard for the Pacers, averaging 11.2 points and six assists per game. At the end of the season, he suddenly announced his retirement at the age of 32. Now that Collison has comeback, fans have teased: Is he running out of money?
Collison, who was the 21st pick in the first round in 2009, played 10 seasons in the NBA, playing in 708 regular-season games, averaging 12.5 points, 2.7 rebounds, 5 assists and 1.2 steals per game. He shot 47.1 percent from the field, 39.4 percent from three-point range and 85.3 percent from the free throws. If it had been two years ago, no one would have questioned Collison's ability, but he had been out of the battle for a long time.
As you can see in the picture above, Collison is familiar with the members of this Lakers team. He has been teammates with Rondo, Jordan Jr., and Westbrook, and has worked with Vogel at the Pacers. Collison's college days were brilliant, leading UCLA to the NCAA Final Four for three consecutive years. In his sophomore year, he became the team starter, and the player who replaced Collison was Wei Shao!
According to ESPN, before the Lakers signed Thomas Jr., Collison had already started training with the Lakers, and Collison was expected to play tomorrow's Christmas game. Neither Collison nor Thomas Jr. can solve the Lakers' current problems. So far this season, the Lakers have used 18 starting lineups, and none of them have used more than 4 starts.
In the game between the Lakers and the Spurs, Vogel once sent a super five small lineup: Thomas Jr. + Rondo + Westbrook + Jones + Guago. Although three defenders were on the floor, the attack was not smooth, and the defensive end was full of holes. Many fans don't understand: Why sign a point guard again? Don't reinforce the forward and interior heights?
One thing to say, are you optimistic about Collison's prospects in the Lakers?