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In a move that was expected, Shannon Brown's agent confirmed his client will opt out of his contract by Wednesday's deadline and become a free agent Thursday. But Mark Bartelstein reiterated Brown wants to re-sign with the Lakers.Bartelstein had told FanHouse last week that Brown likely would opt out by the June 30 deadline. The move will be official when the paperwork is submitted Wednesday.
The guard was due to make $2.149 million this season in the second year of a two-year, $4.148 million contract. He upped his seasonal scoring average last season to 8.1 from 4.2 in 2008-09.
"He was offered a lot more money by other teams in free agency last year, but he really wanted to stay with the Lakers,'' Bartelstein said in a phone interview. "But they didn't have Bird rights so all they could offer was the biannual exception. But Shannon really wanted to stay so he signed a two-year contract with an opt out for below market value ... Now the Lakers (have early-Bird rights on Brown so they can pay him more), and he obviously had a better season than he did (in 2008-09).''
Brown had told FanHouse in April it would "make a lot of sense'' to opt out of his contract, one reason being the uncertainty of a new collective bargaining agreement. He said at the time his hope was to re-sign with the Lakers.
"He'd love to,'' Bartelstein said of a return to the two-time defending champions. "That's certainly the hope. I will be be talking to (Lakers general manager) Mitch (Kupchak).''
Chris Tomasson can be reached at tomasson@fanhouse.com or on Twitter@christomasson
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