After signing with the Lakers last summer, Chris Kaman spent a large chunk of his time sitting on the bench, never really a factor in coach Mike D’Antoni’s run-and-gun style. Their issues extended off the court, too, and even though D’Antoni resigned, Kaman is done in Hollywood. Yahoo reports the 7-footer has agreed to a deal with the Trail Blazers paying him $9.8 million over the next two years.
The $5 million in the second year only has $1 million guaranteed, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
Blazers general manager Neil Oshley drafted Kaman as a Clippers executive back in 2003. Sources tell Woj the Blazers were initially interested in Channing Frye (a stretch four Damian Lillard said he wanted right before free agency started) and Spencer Hawes, but decided to pull the trigger on Kaman yesterday.
Dame already introduced himself to Kaman last season:
The 32-year-old Kaman will back up starting center Robin Lopez. Despite falling into D’Antoni’s doghouse last season, Chris still managed to average 10.4 points and 5.9 rebounds in nearly 19 minutes a game, with the highest player efficiency rating (17.0) of his career.
What do you think of the move?
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