The Los Angeles Lakers have plenty of issues, particularly with the versatile Lamar Odom no longer on their team. Their core is aging, and they have very little flexibility to sign marquee free agents because of the money locked into their top talents. So Los Angeles will have to settle for players willing to take the veteran's minimum.
Troy Murphy is one of their top targets. Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times reports.
Unrestricted free-agent power forward Troy Murphy worked at the Lakers' practice facility Wednesday evening.
Murphy has averaged double figures in seven seasons and five double-double efforts in points and rebounds in his 10-year career. He's coming off a poor 2010-2011 campaign during which he lost his starting role in New Jersey and struggled to fit in as a midseason pickup with Boston. Ever since the Lakers traded Lamar Odom to the Dallas Mavericks, General Manager Mitch Kupchak acknowledged the necessity to add pieces to the Lakers' frontcourt.
Murphy has spent most of his career with the Golden State Warriors (where he started off) and the Indiana Pacers (where he was most productive), but he had an unproductive season with the Boston Celtics when he was buried on the bench. Murphy will hopefully provide that forward-center combination off the bench that Odom thrived in for the past several years. He would likely be able to compete immediately for playing time.
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