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For the second time in recent weeks, the Lakers reportedly held a free agent mini-camp, this time highlighted by a pair of former Lakers in Darren Collison and Derrick Williams, according to JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors. Both players spent their time with the Lakers under 10-day contracts, Collison this past season and Williams in the 2017-18 season.
The Lakers held a free-agent mini-camp yesterday that featured former No. 2 pick Derrick Williams and veteran Darren Collison, league sources say. Among the other attendees: Justin Tillman, Craig Randall II, Sindarius Thornwell, Olivier Sarr, Antonio Blakeney and Jaylen Adams.
— JD Shaw (@JShawNBA) June 22, 2022
Collison was signed this season by the Lakers amid the team’s COVID outbreak with a hardship waiver, but ultimately played just a trio of games and 37 total minutes before his contract came to an end. This recent workout is the latest in a years-long pursuit of Collison that dates back to the 2019-20 season, but in his limited big leauge run this past season, his athletic window of NBA-caliber contribution looked like it may have already expired.
Those were the first NBA games Collison had played since the 2018-19 season having retired for two seasons before making his return. After his stint with the LA Lakers, Collison played with the South Bay Lakers for three games as well, averaging 11.3 points on 63.6% shooting in 24.2 minutes per game, before a hamstring injury forced him out of the rotation for their brief playoff run.
As for Williams, his brief time in Los Angeles came in in the 2017-18 season when he played twice for the Lakers toward the end of the season. The latter of those games came on March 14, 2018 and was the last time Williams stepped on an NBA court.
Williams has played overseas since with stops in China, Germany, Turkey, Spain and Isreal in the years since. Last season with Maccabi Tel Aviv, Williams averaged 9.8 points and 3.3 rebounds in 32 games while shooting 44.7% from the field and 39.6% from behind the 3-point line.
The rest of the participants could hardly conceivably move the needle for the Lakers or anyone else. As was the case during their last workout, the fact remains that if these players are free agents right now, there’s a reason they’re available. For now, it seems the Lakers are doing some due diligence ahead of what is likely going to be a busy offseason in the coming weeks. The more data they can gather on guys like this now, the better informed they can be when it comes to assessing their options when free agency starts on July 1.
For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.
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