Lakers Resign DJ Mbenga

The Lakers have resigned center DJ Mbenga today. Press release below:

"The Los Angeles Lakers have re-signed free agent center Didier “DJ” Ilunga-Mbenga, it was announced today by General Manager Mitch Kupchak.

Mbenga, a 7-foot, 255 pound native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, signed a pair of 10-day contracts with the Lakers last season on January 21 and February 1 before signing for the remainder of the year on February 11.

In 26 games with the Lakers, Mbenga averaged 2.0 points, 1.7 rebounds and 0.62 blocked shots in 7.8 minutes while totaling four points and five rebounds in 10 minutes over seven postseason games.

Earlier in the season, Mbenga signed with the Golden State Warriors on November 17 after spending three seasons with the Dallas Mavericks prior to their request for waivers on him October 30. In 16 games with the Warriors prior to his release January 6, Mbenga averaged 1.2 points, 1.9 rebounds and 0.63 blocked shots in 8.1 minutes.

After signing with Dallas as a rookie free agent in 2004, Mbenga, 27, played 79 games over three seasons with the Mavericks, totaling 106 points, 75 rebounds and 35 blocked shots in 374 minutes. In his rookie year of 2004-05, he averaged 4.10 blocks per 48 minutes played while improving to 5.00 blocks per 48 minutes in 2005-06. In 2006-07 he was limited to just 21 games after missing the first 16 games of the year with a left foot tendon strain and suffering a torn right ACL 2/7/07 vs. Memphis.

In 121 career games including two starts, Mbenga is averaging 1.6 points, 1.2 rebounds and 0.50 blocked shots in 5.8 minutes.

The Lakers preseason roster now stands at 19."

Sun Yue Almost Sent To Memphis

In an interview with Los Angeles Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak, he revealed that recently signed Chinese guard Sun Yue was almost part of the Memphis trade that brought Pau Gasol to the Lakers. Kupchak said, "Memphis also wanted Sun in the trade, but we wanted to keep at least one of those 2 guys so Memphis wanted Marc [Gasol] and we are happy that we were able to keep Sun Yue, because we liked him when we drafted him."

Other topics of the interview include how well Sun speaks English, his humor, another nickname, and the process that the Lakers had to go through to sign a player from China. It's an interesting read if you've ever wondered what NBA teams have had to go through to sign players like Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian, and now Sun from China.

Read more about the interview here.

Assist By Ref

Here's a fun Laker video to watch until there's some new Laker news:

Lakers Sign C.J. Giles

The Lakers have signed forward C.J. Giles today. Press release below:

"The Los Angeles Lakers have signed free agent forward CJ Giles, it was announced today. Per team policy, terms of the agreement were not released.

Giles, a 6-11 forward who finished his collegiate career at Oregon State after playing two seasons at Kansas, averaged 6.3 points and 5.6 rebounds in ten games last season for the Beavers."

Lakers Sign Brandon Heath

The Lakers have signed guard Brandon Heath today. Press release below:

"The Los Angeles Lakers signed free agent guard Brandon Heath on Wednesday.

Per team policy, terms of the agreement were not released.

A 6-3 guard who played collegiately at San Diego State, Heath spent last season playing in France for Entente Orleans 45, where he averaged 12.0 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 25 games.

Heath had an impressive career with the Aztecs, graduating as the school and Mountain West Conference’s all-time leader in scoring with 2,189 points."