Lakers Reportedly Considering Gilbert Arenas, Allen Iverson And Others To Bolster Offense

As the Lakers' roller coaster season continues, the outlook of the franchise -- both short term and long term -- can seem to change by the day. Shortly before the start of the season, Los Angeles' future seemed bright with Chris Paul having been acquired via trade. That dream was soon shattered by Commissioner David Stern, due to "basketball reasons." At various points, the Lakers were also rumored to be acquiring Dwight Howard from Orlando, but that hasn't panned out and the star center's wish list appears to be expanding.

As the season wears on, the Lakers struggles on offense have become more apparent. The purple and gold are scoring 92.7 points per game which is good for 21st in the league. Following a six-game road trip, in which they were torched by New York's Jeremy Lin and needed a clutch shot from Kobe to beat the lowly Raptors, the Lakers are apparently considering several unlikely options to help the team.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, the Lakers attended a private workout for free agent guard Gilbert Arenas. Per the report, sources said that the 30-year-old "moved well and made a positive impression." Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com reported that another source said the 30-year-old looked "slimmed down" and "explosive." But it remains uncertain whether the Lakers would pursue signing him.

Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reported on Friday that not only did Kobe Bryant give the Lakers his "stamp of approval" on signing Arenas, but the five-time champion even reached out to Agent Zero to let him know he's up for Arenas joining the team.

Lakers fans, however, may not be too keen on the idea of signing Arenas, who played 70 games with the Washington Wizards and Orlando Magic last season but made little impact. He only averaged eight points and 3.4 assists in 49 games coming off the bench for the Magic. Orlando decided to waive Arenas before this shortened offseason with the NBA amnesty clause. He was suspended for 50 games the season before due to bringing guns into the Washington locker room.

The former Arizona Wildcat wasn't the only free agent guard rumored to garner the interest of the Lakers this weekend. ESPN's Stephen A. Smith wrote on Saturday that the Lakers showed interest in Allen Iverson. They would reportedly require that he play in the NBA Developmental League for a couple weeks before potentially joining the NBA roster. Former Raptors point guard Rafer Alston was also mentioned as a Lakers player of interest in Smith's report.

Earlier last week, ESPN's Chris Broussard wrote that the Lakers "are in desperate need of a point guard" and are interested in Houston's Jonny Flynn and Cleveland's Ramon Sessions.

37-year-old veteran Derek Fisher is currently starting at point guard for the Lakers but has been ineffective at the offense end, shooting poorly from the field. Fisher's points per game have declined each season since averaging 11.7 during the 2007-08 campaign.

Comments

[becky bradshaw]

08:17 PM on 02/15/2012

The Lakers are still a good team. Before they decide to blow this team up, they should look to Sacramento, a once good team. It is more likely that the team will get worse, not better.

The Lakers were clearly over-matched by the Mavericks last year, and OKC has moved the bar even higher this year. Kobe is still great, but Bynum was the 4th best Center on the court when they played the Mavericks last year. After Bryant and Gasol, the Lakers are "journeymen".

The Lakers lost both a great coach and a great player (Lamar Odom) from last year's team. They need another great 2-3 player to balance Kobe. Iverson or Arenas would not complement the Lakers attack.

[LogicalMathMan]

12:16 PM on 02/14/2012

Mitch Kuptchak should be fired for all the ridiculous moves he made this year and the ones he did not make, IMO. Arenas and AI are past their prime and neither has been known to play defense. What the Lakers need is a quicker, younger PG who can drop about 12 points and around 10 dimes. To have Kobe lead the team in assists is inexcusable, although he is my favorite Laker.

[Buffyboy]

08:45 PM on 02/13/2012

They should look on their bench. They might find a Jeremy Lin.

[chickinbeak]

04:39 PM on 02/13/2012

who runs the lakers kobe or the owner ,coach i wished i knew

[Cousin Earl]

11:56 PM on 02/13/2012

Of course Kobe runs the Lakers. Silly chickinbeak.

[LogicalMathMan]

12:13 PM on 02/14/2012

If that were true, his good friend Odom would not be in Dallas.

[Jazmo]

03:49 PM on 02/13/2012

Maybe they can give T.O. a tryout. I bet he'd switch sports if the price was right (j/k)

[linton]

12:09 PM on 02/13/2012

Bad bad move if the Lakers go ahead with it.

[TheBestLackAllConviction]

10:34 AM on 02/13/2012

I'm 54, slower, no ups, effective range of 18", but a scrapper. When are the try-outs?

[stjoshy]

02:41 PM on 02/13/2012

bahahahah.

[montanasian]

10:32 PM on 02/13/2012

Yep that's funny. I am also playing soon in the six foot under league.

[keith w oliver]

10:32 AM on 02/13/2012

arenas isn't a terrible idea, actually ... as long as he keeps all his guns out of staples ;)

[myopinion2]

10:21 AM on 02/13/2012

I can't believe arenas is only 30. I thought he was an old man. Last year he looked washed up.

[frank day]

10:00 AM on 02/13/2012

A.I. has never played D.

They need defense and assists from the point.

[stjoshy]

02:44 PM on 02/13/2012

this is true. but A.I doesnt ball anymore.this is "Agent Zero" or hibachi

[structurequity]

08:12 AM on 02/13/2012

Would stand to reason that David Stern is on his way out for elevating personal business reasons above league ones as he negated the Lakers ability to be competitive. A most socialistic move on his part not easily forgotten by capitalists such as Gerry Buss.

[keith w oliver]

10:31 AM on 02/13/2012

good point -- i was semi-surprised all the brass didn't try to do more to convince him that was unethical, in the first place.

i have been a lakers fan since i was 3, but live in/outside of new orleans now, and he really got a lot of people onto the "david-stern-is-an-idiot" bandwagon, down here. i thought the majority of the nay-sayers would be of purple&gold, and even though cp3 was a fan favourite, he wanted to go and people were okay with that. the hornets contengency was exited about the puzzle-pieces to complete a trade. this wasn't like when baron davis wanted out of no,la and had injury after injury, and whined and complained, while the sub-par team including dan dickau, peja stoijokivc, jamaal magloire, speedy claxton, chris birdman anderson, etc (david west was injured at the time) all went out and gave their all.
this wasnt like that scenario at all, cp3 was well liked and people got mad at the puppetteer that wouldnt allow him to be traded to the fish & kobe show.
stern got a lot of disrespect out of that one.