NBA Rumors: Lakers Have Their Eyes on Rashard Lewis

The latest NBA rumor coming out of Hollywood is that the Los Angeles Lakers have interest in acquiring Rashard Lewis and his sharp shooting capabilities. According to the Los Angeles Times the Lakers are monitoring whether Lewis will become a free agent via the amnesty provision, which allows teams to waive a player without having to pay luxury taxes on his salary, or have his salary count toward the salary cap.

Lewis is currently under contract with the Washington Wizards and has two years, $43.8 million left on his contract. While it is unclear if Lewis has interest in joining the Lakers, playing for a contender one year removed of from winning back to championships might be appealing for the forward.

The appeal that the Lakers have with Lewis is that he could provide a growing need for outside shooting that they have lacked the past few seasons and were opposed for in last years' early playoff exit to the Dallas Mavericks. For his career, the 13-year veteran has shot 39 percent from behind the arc.

With the constant double teams that the Lakers' big men Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol usually receive, Lewis would likely have plenty of wide open shots in the Lakers offense. Playing for the Lakers would also see Lewis return to the small forward position, which is a more natural position for him than the power forward position that he has played for the majority of his career.

At small forward, Lewis could use his 6'10" height to post up most of the opposition at the position. The questions that come to mind is how this would affect the futures of Metta World Peace (Ron Artest) and Luke Walton since the Lakers are already deep at the three spot. Matt Barnes and Devon Ebanks are two other players on the Lakers depth chart that occupy the same position.

It is for this reason that the Los Angeles Times may have speculated that like Lewis, World Peace or Walton could suffer the same fate of the amnes...

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