Los Angeles Lakers waive Steve Nash, sign Jabari Brown to multi-year deal

The Los Angeles Lakers officially closed the door on a disappointing period in the franchise's history today, as General Manager Mitch Kupchak announced that the team had waived guard Steve Nash.

Nash, who recently announced his retirement, was plagued by injuries throughout his three seasons with the team.  Those same health problems eventually forced him into retirement this season.

When the Lakers acquired Nash three years ago, they hoped that he would become the maestro behind a high-powered offensive attack guided by coach Mike D'Antoni. Visions of Nash distributing pinpoint passes to Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol, and Kobe Bryant prompted the front office to roll the dice and trade for him.

Injuries, poor team chemistry, and a multitude of other factors proved to be that squad's undoing.

Ultimately, the Lakers paid a steep price for the trade because they dealt away four draft picks and received very little production in return from Nash -- a player who already was quite old at the time of the trade.

In addition to waiving Nash, the team today also signed guard Jabari Brown to a multi-year contract.  Although the terms of the agreement were not released, other outlets have reported that the deal is for the conclusion of this season with an additional non-guaranteed year next season.

Brown, previously signed to 10-day contracts on March 10 and March 20, has appeared in 10 games for the Lakers, averaging 9.4 points on 50.0% (32-64) shooting, including 45.8% (11-24) from three-point range in 24.5 minutes per game.

Brown, who played collegiately at Missouri, is a former college teammate of current Laker guard Jordan Clarkson.

In Monday's overtime victory at Philadelphia, Brown had the best performance of his NBA career, scoring a career-high 22 points in 34 minutes on 7-10 shooting (3-4 from beyond-the-arc).

Prior to joining the Lakers, Brown was a member of the Lakers NBA Development League affiliate, the Los Angeles D-Fenders, where he led the D-League in scoring at 24.4 points per game to go along with 4.1 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in 39 games (25 starts).

A 2015 NBA D-League All-Star, Brown tallied two of the highest single-game scoring outputs in the D-League this season, finishing with 50 points on January 10th at Sioux Falls and 48 points on February 28th versus Bakersfield.

By Staff of TheDailySportsHerald.com and news services