On January 17th, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continues. As the schedule progresses in depth, many teams in the league have also experienced varying degrees of injuries. In order to better fill the lineup gaps, teams led by the Suns have begun to make moves to strengthen their squads, hoping to transform their teams into an ideal state before the trade deadline.
It is worth noting that after the Suns officially announced a 4-for-2 trade to acquire Richards, the Los Angeles Lakers have also completed their own recruitment operations. They temporarily gave up on Valanciunas, abandoned the Jazz's young interior player, officially waived two-way player Olivari, and signed with free agent Jamison.
Here, some fans may be unfamiliar with the name Jamison. Is it really worth giving up Olivari, who averages 17 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and a three-point shooting rate of 40% in the Development League, for such an unknown player? The answer is obviously yes.
As a 2023 NBA draft pick, the 25-year-old Jamison stands at 2.11 meters tall and weighs 117 kilograms. Since his debut, he has played for the Wizards, Pelicans, and Grizzlies. This season, he represented the Pelicans in 16 regular-season games, averaging 10 minutes per game and scoring 2 points and 2 rebounds. Although his statistics are average, Jamison's potential is still worth exploring. It should be noted that in last season's game against the Wizards, representing the Grizzlies, he once scored 24 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 blocks in a single game with 13 out of 11 shots.
In terms of personal ability, Jamison may not be as outstanding as centers like Embiid and Jokic, but his role in the Lakers is not to be the team's main core. Pelinka's divine move from the "junk market" brought him back, focusing on releasing Davis. Because the latter has repeatedly complained to management, hoping that the team can introduce a big man to partner with, Davis longs to return to the power forward position; he no longer wants to play center.
Jamison's arrival clearly meets all of Davis' requirements for a big man in the paint. He doesn't need too many flashy individual abilities; he just needs to play the role of Howard and McGee as they did when they won the championship in the 2020 park, engaging in a war of attrition with Hayes and Wood against opponents' interior players, reducing the defensive pressure on Davis. As a result, the Lakers' offense will be completely revitalized, which is also the blue-collar interior partner that Davis has been waiting for four years.
Furthermore, playing alongside James, even if you lack independent offensive capabilities, he can accurately pass the ball to your hands. Therefore, next to James and Davis, Jamison only needs to play like Zubac and Capela. Finally, the editor can't help but marvel that Pelinka is truly Pelinka, not spending an extra penny, and painstakingly picking and patching from the "junk market" for another year.