The Lakers are in need of scoring help and have set their sights on Gilbert Arenas. Â Arenas a victim of the amnesty clause and now free agent, released a four-team wishlist which listed the Lakers as well. Â Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant has officially given his stamp of approval to sign the testy guard. Â With all those factors in play you would think it’s a done deal, but it’s far from official. Â Read why after the jump.
Arenas is a three-time All-Star with a career average of 21.7 points per game but last year struggled in Washington before a mid-season trade to Orlando. With the Magic, Arenas’ numbers plummeted. He averaged only 8.0 points a game, shooting only 27.5 percent from 3-point range and 34.4 overall.
Injuries and league discipline have severely limited his time on the floor, as well. Since the start of the 2007-08 season, Arenas has appeared in only 117 games.
The Lakers intend to take a look at Gilbert Arenas whenever he holds a workout in his attempt to reignite his career, the team also has Bryant’s blessing to sign him, two people familiar with the situation told CBSSports.com. Perhaps just as important, Arenas, 30, has Bryant’s personal stamp of approval. Bryant reached out to Arenas recently through an intermediary to let him know he’s on board with Arenas joining the Lakers. It isn’t clear whether Arenas will show Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak what he needs to see to take a chance on the three-time All-Star, but one person with knowledge of the team’s strategy said the Lakers may not have the complete answer until they see Arenas in actual game action. Bryant has reached out to other players this way, most notably Metta World Peace — back when his name was Ron Artest and the Lakers signed him in 2009.
