After a very disappointing season with the Los Angeles Lakers, Antawn Jamison might be coming back to the Washington Wizards, where he enjoyed his best seasons and most of his playoff basketball.
The question regarding Jamison, is how willing will he be to take on a lesser role than he had in the past with the team, and even smaller than his 21.5 minutes per game he played for the Los Angeles Lakers? According to Yahoo, the Wizards would love to have the 37-year old back, but it’s hard to see how much time he’ll actually have on the floor.
He averaged 9.4 points per game last season for the Lakers, not feeling too happy in Mike D’Antoni’s system, but the steep decline in his minutes and ability (lowest per-minute numbers since his rookie season) might have been about his age, and not the schemes that didn’t fit him. Instead of being on a team of veterans contending for a title, Jamison played on an old and injured group that barely made it into the playoffs.
Jamison was part of the Wizards’ “golden years”, which were making the playoffs four consecutive seasons, losing once in the semifinals and three more times in the first round, all of them to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. He later joined James in Cleveland, where he continued scoring (17.2 points per game during the 2011-2012 season), but barely making it past the 40% from the field mark.
Jamison isn’t the only player the Wizards are trying to get. Seeking a spot in the playoffs for the first time since 2008 and hopeful thanks to a very strong second half last season and John Wall finally playing better than he did during his rookie seasons, the Wizards added Eric Maynor to be their backup point guard, on top of drafting the very promising Otto Porter in the first round.
Despite Porter joining the team, the Wizards aren’t giving up on Martell Webster, and are currently in talks with the small forward, hoping to re-sign him for next season instead of looking for a backup in a market that isn’t offering better options.