The Los Angeles Lakers have traded center Chris Mihm to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for a conditional 2nd round pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, it was announced today by General Manager Mitch Kupchak.
Mihm, currently in his 5th season with the Lakers, is averaging 2.0 points, 1.9 rebounds and 5.8 minutes in 18 games this year. His best campaign came in the 2005-06 season, when he averaged 10.2 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.
“The last two years have been difficult and frustrating for Chris in coming back from his ankle injury,” said Kupchak. “But Chris has handled himself with true professionalism the entire time. With the depth of our roster, especially at the center position, Chris has not had the opportunity to play that he deserves. At this point in his career, and especially as someone who will be a free agent this summer, we felt it was in his best interests to go to a team that would give him a chance to play. Chris has made significant contributions to our team over the past five years. We’d like to thank him and wish him the best of luck for the remainder of his career.”
The Los Angeles Times (Mike Bresnahan and Broderick Turner ) reports: Andrew Bynum is expected to be sidelined six to 10 more weeks because of a torn medial collateral ligament in his right knee, which keeps Gasol and Odom in the forefront of every discussion if the Lakers want to stay ahead of the Celtics and Cavaliers. Since Bynum went down seven games ago, Gasol and Odom have stepped up their production. Both have played at a high level with Bynum out, increasing their scoring, rebounding and minutes. Jackson was asked whether the Lakers needed Gasol and Odom to sustain their pace. “Yeah,” Jackson said. “It takes the load off Kobe scoring.”
The Boston Globe (Marc J. Spears) reports: Suns center Shaquille O’Neal is sentimental about playing in tonight’s All-Star Game since he knows it could be his last. “I’m soaking it in,” O’Neal said. “I’m getting real happy about knowing it’s all about to end. I remember when I was [young], I looked at people and said I wanted to do this. When it’s all said and done, I’ll be able to say I’m in the top five in scoring, not bad, the top 10 in blocks, not bad, four different teams, not bad, hell of a player, everybody liked him, not bad. I was able to accomplish more than I wanted to accomplish.” O’Neal will be reunited with Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant on the West team tonight. They won three titles together with the Lakers, but after several verbal battles with Bryant, O’Neal was dealt to Miami in the summer of 2004. “To us, it’s really not that big of a story,” Bryant said. “I’m not revisiting that. It wasn’t a fun time for me, so I’m not about to revisit it.”
The Press Enterprise (Jeff Eisenberg) reports: The emphatic one-handed dunk Jordan Farmar attempted Tuesday against Oklahoma City served at least one purpose, even though the play resulted in a charging foul. It proved to Farmar that his surgically repaired left knee is fully healthy again. “Just the fact that I didn’t think about it, I got an open lane, went and jumped off my knee with no second thought about it, that’s good,” Farmar said. “It tells me that I’m back to 100 percent.” In the 10 games since he returned, Farmar has averaged 6.6 points and 2.6 assists in 18 minutes per game, very similar numbers to those he put up prior to getting hurt in late December.