He’s (officially) back.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, Metta World Peace will sign a one-year, non-guaranteed contract with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Free-agent forward Metta World Peace has reached agreement on a one-year, non-guaranteed deal to return to the Los Angeles Lakers, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
World Peace will sign his contract Thursday, and take a physical to formalize the agreement on Friday, league sources said.
If he passes the required medical testing, World Peace will join the Lakers in Hawaii next week for the beginning of training camp.
The 15-year NBA veteran last appeared in the league with the New York Knicks during the 2013-14 season. A market never developed for World Peace’s services after he was waived by the Knicks in February 2014, leading to a professional career overseas marked by stops in China and Italy.
Rumors of a reunion between World Peace and Los Angeles – with whom he played from 2009-10 to 2012-13 – first surfaced late last month and gained additional traction in subsequent weeks. The 35-year-old spent much of the summer working out at the Lakers’ practice facility, and recently told the Los Angeles Daily News that he believes the purple-and-gold can “absolutely” make the playoffs this season.
Could the addition of World Peace be what propels Los Angeles to an utterly shocking postseason berth in 2015-16? Certainly not. As became evident during his brief tenure with the Knicks, the former Defensive Player of the Year is a bit player in every respect at this advanced stage of his career. Frankly, the Lakers’ interest in him vexes from just about every perspective.
Either way, though, World Peace is bound to create a fair share of headlines now that he’s back in the NBA – even if he’s no longer capable of helping Los Angeles on the floor.
[Via Yahoo Sports]
