Lakers Rumors: Antawn Jamison Makes Smart Decision to Join LA, Spurn Bobcats

Antawn Jamison has decided that he would rather live in Los Angeles and compete for a championship than move back to his home in North Carolina.

According to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer, the 36-year-old forward opted to sign with the Lakers instead of the Bobcats on Monday.

The choice was, imaginably, quite easy.

This is the basketball equivalent of a person electing to take a glamorous position in Hollywood and live in a mansion rather than move back home into their mom’s basement and work menial odd jobs in order to loaf around with their college buddies.

The Lakers are clearly a better option for the veteran, who has been stuck playing with the NBA basement-dwelling Cleveland Cavaliers for the past two seasons.

Jamison’s playoff experiences have been less than stellar, only reaching the conference semis twice during his 14-year career and never advancing farther than that.



With 985 games under his belt, the sweet-shooting 6’9” forward knows he has a limited window of time left in his basketball career and the Bobcats offer almost no chance of a ring before retirement. The Lakers, who are in the midst of a major overhaul, are almost a shoo-in to make the postseason.

While Charlotte did have the advantage of being located in the same state where Jamison played high school and collegiate ball, they are—and this is being kind—light years away from relevancy.

The No. 4 overall pick in the 1998 draft had to be keenly aware that becoming a key rotation player for a roster that includes Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant is an excellent way to spend the twilight of his career.

Considering the alternative of getting a chance to start on a nightly basis for a pathetic team that has zero shot of competing for a championship in the next few years, choosing L.A. over Charlotte may have been the e...

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