Lakers Low on Big Men After Grant’s Release

The Lakers waived 33-year-old Brian Grant on Wednesday under the NBA’s one-time amnesty provision, a move that cost them one of their few big men but could save them as much as $30 million in luxury tax.

The Lakers must still pay the last two years on Grant’s contract at $14.3 million and $15.4 million. However, if they had kept him, they might have had to match that amount dollar for dollar in tax. This season’s luxury tax threshold is $61.9 million; the Lakers are above $80 million.

“From ownership’s standpoint, it’s hard not to take advantage of something like that,” said Grant’s agent, Mark Bartelstein. “I don’t think it has anything to do with Brian as a player. I talked to Mitch [Kupchak] and Phil [Jackson]. They had him penciled in as the starting four [power forward], but from an economic standpoint, this is something they felt they had to do.”

Grant said in a statement, “I want to thank the Los Angeles Lakers organization and Lakers fans for the support they showed me and my family during my time in L.A. I wish things could have been better last season.”

A hard-working, self-effacing, 6-foot-9, 250-pounder, Grant was the 1999 winner of the league’s J. Walter Kennedy Award for citizenship. However, his career went into eclipse in 1999 after he signed a seven-year, $80-million deal with Miami. The Heat gave Grant and Eddie Jones similar deals, but when Alonzo Mourning began experiencing kidney problems, they were exposed as complementary players who were unable to reach star status.

The Lakers picked up the last three years of Grant’s contract last summer to make the Shaquille O’Neal trade work. Handicapped by injuries, Grant started only eight games as a Laker and averaged career lows in minutes (16.5), scoring (3.8) and rebounds (3.7).

Nevertheless, as Jackson prepared to return to the Laker coaching job last spring, he seemed to have plans for Grant, prodding him by noting, “Brian Grant didn’t earn his lunch money this year.”

With the Lakers deferring a decision on whether to pick up Vlade Divac’s $5.4-million option, newly acquired Kwame Brown is now penciled in as the starting power forward.

“The amnesty rule was not in place and thus not a factor when we made the trade which included Brian,” said Kupchak in a prepared statement. “However, this is a one-time opportunity to take advantage of this situation, and exercising this will give us greater roster flexibility and the ability to improve our team.

“We’re grateful to Brian for his professionalism and contributions to our team last season and wish him the best of luck with the rest of his career.”

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The Lakers’ courtship of Derek Anderson lagged this week, as teams around the league waited to see who else would be released under the amnesty provision.

However, with the amnesty deadline coming Monday, Anderson still appears to be their top guard prospect. Jackson came back to town to see his workout last weekend.

Anderson then passed a physical examination to allay the Lakers’ concerns over his sitting out 66 games in his last two seasons in Portland because of back problems.

Anderson’s agent, Tony Dutt, talked hopefully of getting the Lakers’ $5 million midlevel exception, but the team hopes to get him for less than that. Anderson is now sorting his options.

“We’ve got two or three trips we’re going to take, to see what’s there,” Dutt said.

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Drop-off

Brian Grant’s career averages in 10 years before last season, and his 2004-05 averages with the Lakers:

*--* PPG RPG APG BPG 1994-2004 11.4 8.0 1.3 0.80 2004-05 3.8 3.7 0.5 0.33

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