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NBA Rumors: Los Angeles Lakers Finalize Training Camp Roster By Adding Metta World Peace And Thomas Robinson

By Daniel Benjamin
Published on: 14:42 PST, Sep 21, 2016

The Los Angeles Lakers will head to Santa Barbara with a full-20-man roster for the opening of training camp on September 27.

Los Angeles filled its two remaining training camp roster spots by adding a pair of veterans, Metta World Peace and Thomas Robinson on Wednesday. Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports that both players signed non-guaranteed deals.

World Peace will attempt to duplicate what he did last year, which is make the Lakers out of training camp despite holding a non-guaranteed contract. The 37-year-old appeared in 35 games last year, averaging 5.0 points and 2.5 rebounds in 16.9 minutes a contest. He also shot a career-low 31.1 percent from the field and 31.0 percent from beyond the arc.

World Peace, a former teammate of coach Luke Walton, has spent five of his 16 NBA seasons with the Lakers. The six-foot-seven forward has also played for the Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers, Sacramento Kings, Houston Rockets and New York Knicks during his career.

World Peace’s on-court value is minimal at this point of his career, but what he does bring are leadership and toughness. He will likely be looked to help mentor a Lakers’ team that has 10 players 25 years-old or younger.

“I’m excited about everything. I’m prepared to help the young guys grow. To play, everything,” World Peace told Romona Shelburne of ESPN.

Robinson, on the other hand, could be a valuable pickup. The 25-year-old has been on the open market since opting out of his contract with the Brooklyn Nets since June. He had been linked to the Dallas Mavericks, Minnesota Timberwolves, New Orleans Pelicans, San Antonio Spurs, Pacers, Phoenix Suns, and Atlanta Hawks this summer, but those teams ultimately decided against taking a flier on him.

Robinson is athletic and a strong rebounder,who has the ability to add some highlight-reel block shots though he is only an average shot-blocker. The six-foot-10 power forward finished last season strong, posting six double-doubles in his final seven games. Overall, he averaged 4.3 points and 5.1 caroms (1.9 on the offensive end) over 12.6 minutes a contest in 2015-16.

Robinson was selected with the No. 5 overall selection in 2012 by the Sacramento Kings. He has played for five teams over his first four years in the league, posting career averages of 4.9 points and 4.8 rebounds while shooting 45.9 percent from the field.

World Peace and Robinson are long shots to make the team’s 15-man roster with Los Angeles having 14 guaranteed contracts. Yi Jianlian is considered the favorite to win the final roster spot as he has an incentive-laden contract. Jianlian is slated to make $8 million this season though only $250,000 is guaranteed.

If World Peace and/or Robinson end up making the squad it will likely be at Nick Young’s expense. Young has been considered a candidate to released since the end of last season.

Second year pro Anthony Brown’s spot on the roster is also tenuous. Brown, who is seen as a 3-and-D type player, struggled last season in that capacity. The 23-year-old shot 31.0 percent from the floor, and a meager 28.6 percent on three-point tries, despite attempting 70-of-his-126 shots from long distance. Brown’s contract is fully guaranteed at $874,634 for this upcoming campaign.

Travis Wear, Zach Auguste, and Julian Jacobs are the other players with non-guaranteed contracts. All three players are likely ticketed for the D-League as affiliated players with the Los Angeles D-Fenders. Auguste and Jacobs are undrafted rookies while Wear has one season of NBA service. Wear, 25, averaged 3.9 points and 2.1 caroms in 51 games for the Knicks in 2014-15.

Los Angeles is coming off its worst season in franchise history, going 17-65 and finishing an incredible 56 games behind the Golden State Warriors in the Pacific Division. While the Lakers were not able to add a star free agent this offseason, they did add a few quality veterans in Timofey Mozgov, Luol Deng, and Jose Calderon. Los Angeles also re-signed several of their own free agents and drafted Brandon Ingram out of Duke with the No. 3 overall pick of the 2016 draft.

ESPN projects the Lakers to improve their win total by seven games, and if that prediction is correct, it means they will miss the postseason for a fourth straight year.

[Featured Image by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images]

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