File photo of Alex Lane© AFP
Ukrainian center Alex Lane has signed a free agent contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, the NBA club announced Tuesday, following an earlier trade for Mark Williams. Lane, a 31-year-old seven-footer (2.13 m), in his 12th NBA campaign, joined the Lakers, his sixth NBA club, just three days after being released from Washington. The Lakers made a deal with the Charlotte Hornets for US seven-footer Williams at last week’s NBA trade deadline, but the big man reportedly failed a physical and the trade was called off.
The Lakers needed a big man to play alongside superstars Luka Doncic and LeBron James following the departure of Anthony Davis in a deal with Dallas that sent Slovenian guard Doncic to Los Angeles.
The answer came in Lane, who was reportedly close to a deal with the Indiana Pacers before the Lakers’ opportunity came up.
Lane was the fifth overall pick in the 2013 NBA draft by Phoenix, where he spent five seasons before moving to Atlanta, Sacramento, Toronto and Washington before returning to Sacramento for 3.5 seasons before being traded to Washington as part of a three-team trade deal last week.
Lane has career averages of 6.7 points and 5.3 rebounds in 680 NBA appearances and has started just five games over the past three seasons. He averaged 1.4 points and 1.8 rebounds a game for Sacramento this season.
The Lakers, who released injured forward Christian Wood to make room for Lane, are 32-19 and fourth in the Western Conference on a six-game winning streak.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
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