Walton to stay with Lakers after agreeing to 6-year, $30 million deal

[Spurs Brazil]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2922663
Luke Walton reached agreement Sunday with the Los Angeles Lakers on a six-year, $30 million contract after general manager Mitch Kupchak placed a call one minute after midnight to express the team's interest in retaining its best unrestricted free agent.


They called at the earliest possible moment, and we worked on it all day," agent Lon Babby said. "They wanted him back, and Luke wanted to be there. We wanted to make every effort to get an agreement.before we went out and looked at any other teams."

Another of Babby's clients, Grant Hill, had one of his more lucrative options taken away when the Toronto Raptors decided to spend their mid-level exception on Miami Heat sharpshooter Jason Kapono.

Babby said Hill's list of possible teams now includes, in no particular order, Detroit, Miami, Phoenix, San Antonio and Orlando.
"The financial considerations are fairly low on his list of priorities. He wants the opportunity to play on a championship team, and if he has to make a financial sacrifice, he would do that," Babby said.

Chris Sheridan covers the NBA for ESPN Insider.

[timvp]

Walton >> Kapono. A little overpaid but not bad.

[ploto]

Raptors liked Walton, too, but they were not going to get him. See how it all falls together.

[CosmicCowboy]

Babby said Hill's list of possible teams now includes, in no particular order, Detroit, Miami, Phoenix, San Antonio and Orlando.
"The financial considerations are fairly low on his list of priorities. He wants the opportunity to play on a championship team, and if he has to make a financial sacrifice, he would do that," Babby said.

Hmmm...theres only one true championship contender for '07-'08 on that list.

[judaspriestess]

Luke Walton reached agreement Sunday with the Los Angeles Lakers on a six-year, $30 million contract after general manager Mitch Kupchak placed a call one minute after midnight to express the team's interest in retaining its best unrestricted free agent.

Give us Kobe Bryant smut

[AnkleBreaker21]

yah put this in the nba forum

[T Park]

See how it all falls together.

Yup

Colangelo is still overrated and Kapono is stil WAYYY overpaid.

[coachmac87]

Yup

Colangelo is still overrated and Kapono is stil WAYYY overpaid.

ok what would u give him? he is the best 3pt shooter in the league...i think he had a good season and he got a little pay raise..

[Slinkyman]

i bet Kobe is thrilled with this! forget KG, Kobe just wants walton back.

[AnkleBreaker21]

i bet Kobe is thrilled with this! forget KG, Kobe just wants walton back.

[bigdog]

looks like the Lakers FO knows exactly what they're doing. haha

walton AND kapono are overpaid. they are both talented, but i would wait to give them those kind of deals

[Warlord23]

The only problem is that they gave Walton 6 years. That decreases his effectiveness as a trading chip if/when they try to get another star player to put next to Kobe. Walton is a decent player, but an injury-prone defensive liability.