WEDNESDAY, 11:46am: The affiliate of the Pacers has claimed Lucas from the player pool, tweets Jorge Sierra of HoopsHype.
MONDAY, 11:32am: Eight-year NBA veteran point guard John Lucas III has entered the D-League player pool, sources tell Marc Stein of ESPN.com, meaning he’s signed a contract with the league and will end up on an NBA’s team’s affiliate via the D-League waiver process (Twitter link). Lucas, who’ll remain eligible to sign a deal with any NBA club regardless of the D-League team he ends up on, met late last month with Sixers coach Brett Brown, a couple of weeks before Philadelphia signed fellow long-tenured vet Elton Brand.
Lucas, 33, was with the Heat for the preseason but appeared in only one exhibition game and didn’t make the opening night roster. He spent much of last season with Fujian of China after canceling a scheduled workout with the Lakers to sign instead with the overseas club, but he returned to the NBA last February on a pair of 10-day contracts with the Pistons that preceded a deal for the rest of the season. One of those 10-day deals was technically a 13-day arrangement, as we explained.
The Pistons, as well as the Magic, Spurs, Mavericks and Clippers, had interest in signing Lucas this past summer, as Stein reported then, but he didn’t end up with a deal until he hooked up with the Heat in late September. He’s four years removed from having recorded NBA career highs in points (7.5) and minutes per game (14.8) with the Bulls in the 2011/12 season.