Lakers’ Antawn Jamison Not Happy About Riding The Bench

After 14 seasons in the NBA, Antawn Jamison is riding the bench for the Los Angeles Lakers, and he’s not happy about his reversal of playing time.

After sitting out a fifth game in a row, Antawn revealed:

“Fifteen years. My only thing is let me know why. I don’t think you go from starting and 30-something minutes to not in the rotation whatsoever. And not explaining to me what exactly happened, that’s the toughest thing. There’s nothing you can do but be positive and support your teammates. The only reason I came here was they said I was going to play and to win a championship.”

Jamison may not be happy, but he is earning $1.4 million to sit on the bench while serving out a one-year contract in Los Angeles.

Earlier in the season, the NBA veteran seemed to be headed in the right direction after the Lakers replaced head coach Mike Brown with Mike D’Antoni. Jamison shot for 33 points in 33 minutes against Denver, but then his average slipped to just 12.3 points per game over the next four outings.

As his average points per game slipped, so did his playing time.

D’Antoni has said Jamison would “probably” get placed back in the Lakers rotation, although he did not give a possible time frame for that playing decision.

According to D’Antoni:

“Everybody gets another chance and stuff. We’re playing nine guys and I’m really liking Metta [World Peace]. We don’t want to lose Antawn because he does what he does. We’ll see. Antawn’s ready to roll if we need him.”

Antawn Jamison’s average has dropped from last season when he played with the Cleveland Cavaliers and averaged 17.2 points per game. Over 25 games, Antawn Jamison has averaged just 7.2 points for the Lakers.

Do you think Antawn Jamison should be given more playing time?