Eric Boateng Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Lakers Rumors: Bynum, Gasol, Marshall

January 4th, 2014 at 1:14pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Cavs are zeroing in on the Lakers as a potential trade partner for an Andrew Bynum deal, but it doesn’t appear as though the Lakers seem eager to play along. They believe there are ways of avoiding the luxury tax that don’t involve unloading Pau Gasol, and according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com, they feel like it’s increasingly unlikely they’ll find middle ground with Cleveland (Twitter link). Here’s the latest from Lakerland as the team surveys its position:

“Marshall Madness,” has lifted the Lakers, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com. D-League pickup Kendall Marshall wasn’t seeing much playing time in his first five games on the roster, but injuries to Xavier Henry and Jordan Farmar forced coach Mike D’Antoni to call his number. Since then, he’s responded quite well and showed the kind of potential that made him a lottery pick just a couple of years ago. The point guard racked up 20 points and 15 assists in the Lakers’ 110-99 win over the Jazz on Friday.
Marshall took notice when the Jazz cut Jamaal Tinsley and replaced him with Diante Garrett. “I know that the Jazz let go of a guard earlier this year and I didn’t get a call, so I kind of felt a certain way about that,” Marshall said, according to Bill Oram of the Orange County Register (on Twitter).
Six-year NBA veteran and former Laker Von Wafer is headed to the D-League, a source tells Gino Pilato of D-League Digest. Wafer last played in the NBA D-League in 2006, when the Lakers assigned him to the Fort Worth Flyers. He most recently played for the Shanghai Sharks, and averaged 27.0 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.4 assists in five games. The 28-year-old will likely play during the NBA D-League Showcase, which is scheduled to begin Sunday.
Pau-Orthez of France announced the signing of Eric Boateng, who spent camp with the Lakers this fall (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). The 28-year-old center had been playing with La Union in Argentina, Carchia notes.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Lakers Waive Dan Gadzuric, Eric Boateng

October 9th, 2013 at 2:16pm CST by Luke Adams

The Lakers have released a pair of camp invitees, reducing their roster to 17 players, according to a press release. Dan Gadzuric and Eric Boateng have been cut by the team, and will become free agents later this week, assuming they clear waivers.

Gadzuric, 35 last appeared in the NBA in 2011/12, playing in a pair of late-season contests for the Knicks. In 10 career NBA seasons, the 6’11” center has appeared in 527 games, averaging 4.7 PPG, 4.4 RPG, and recording a 14.4 PER. Boateng, meanwhile, went undrafted out of Arizona State in 2010, and has played for multiple clubs in the D-League and overseas since then.

Gadzuric and Boateng had both been considered long shots to make the Lakers’ regular-season roster, despite the fact that the team is only carrying 11 fully guaranteed contracts. Other invitees, like Xavier Henry, have been impressive in camp, while players like Shawne Williams and Elias Harris have partial guarantees on their deals.

Lakers Add Eric Boateng, Darius Johnson-Odom

September 25th, 2013 at 8:47pm CST by Alex Lee

The Lakers have signed both Eric Boateng and Darius Johnson-Odom to their training camp roster, tweets Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times. Pincus adds that these moves were camp invites, implying the deals didn't involve any sort of guarantee, but there's been no official word on the contract specifications as of yet. Both players were previously linked to the Lakers in a report earlier today.

Boateng has bounced around between Europe and the D-League since going undrafted in 2010 out of Arizona State. He has never made an NBA roster despite coming close with the Nuggets heading into the 2010/11 campaign. Johnson-Odom is a bit more experienced, but not by much. He played in four games for the Lakers last year, spending most of his time with the D-Fenders, their D-League affiliate, where he led them in scoring at 20.6 PPG.

The Lakers training camp roster now stands at 18, but Pincus tweets that general manager Mitch Kupchak suggested that the team may go with 19 or 20 because of injuries and also to limit minutes for their veterans.

Lakers Notes: Johnson-Odom, Boateng, Buss

September 25th, 2013 at 10:21am CST by Luke Adams

As we heard over the weekend, the Lakers have yet to start negotiating a contract extension with Kobe Bryant, which is hardly a surprise, given the new CBA. Veteran extensions have become virtually non-existent since the lockout, and given the uncertainty relating to Kobe's recovery from Achilles surgery, there's no reason for either side to rush into contract discussions.

Here's more on the Lakers:

Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com reports (via Twitter) that she has heard Darius Johnson-Odom and Eric Boateng mentioned as possible camp invitees for the Lakers. However, nothing has been finalized yet.
Gilbert Arenas and Kareem Rush have also been spotted working out recently at the Lakers facility, according to Shelburne, but she says not to read too much into that (Twitter link).
Jim Buss and Jeanie Buss have been the ones making headlines lately, but their younger brother Jesse Buss is also involved with the team, and spoke to Laker Nation about his role with the NBA team and its D-League affiliate. Among other topics, Buss addressed the challenge of scouting for a franchise that always has a win-now mentality, and discussed the outlooks for rookies Ryan Kelly and Elias Harris.