Report: Darren Collison To Stay Retired Over Joining Lakers or Clippers
Darren Collison reportedly is choosing to remain retired despite receiving interest from both the Lakers and the Clippers.
Collison, who abruptly retired in June after 10 seasons in the league, informed the teams Sunday that he wasn't ready to return to the NBA, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
The Lakers didn't make any moves before Thursday's trade deadline. But later that evening, Collison sat with Lakers' owner Jeanie Buss when the team hosted the Houston Rockets. His face was shown on the video board and fans at Staples Center cheered for him.
After Thursday's 121-111 loss to the Rockets, LeBron James was asked whether he thought adding Collison to the team's roster would help the Lakers.
"I don't know," James said. "I don't like talking fantasy basketball. I've never been one to talk fantasy basketball. We'll see what happens, but I don't really have too much to comment on it."
Collison, who is from Rancho Cucamonga and went to UCLA, is a playmaking guard with career averages of 12.5 points on 47.1 percent shooting, five assists and 2.5 rebounds a game. He became an increasingly better three-point shooter over his career, averaging 46.8 percent from beyond the arc in 2017-2018 with Indiana.
Collison was expected to get multiple contract offers before choosing to retire over the summer because of religious and family reasons.
"While I still love basketball, I know there is something more important, which is my family and my faith," Collison told Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated and ESPN on June 28. "I am one of the Jehovah's Witnesses, and my faith means everything to me."
