It’s no secret that before agreeing to a deal with the Milwaukee Bucks, Jason Terry had other options considered.
They were all reported to be contenders, until the veteran combo-guard told Tom Byrne of Sirius XM that he reached out to another team that does not fall under the category mentioned earlier.
According to Terry, he gave Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton a call to offer his services to the latter’s young team.
“I called my good friend Luke [Walton]. I told him if he needed any help- veteran leadership, in that capacity, with an ability to coach at the end of my deal, then that was something I would be looking forward to. He utterly declined, and I respect him for that.”
Walton’s reaction doesn’t come as a surprise, with the Lakers already having enough veteran leaders in the persons of Jose Calderon and Luol Deng. And one can’t get as level-headed as those two battle-tested stalwarts.
It should be noted that Jason Terry and Luke Walton share a connection, as both of them are Arizona alumni. But apparently, it wasn’t enough to get him a spot on the Lakers’ squad.
The snub may have come as a blessing in disguise as Terry is now reunited with former teammate and now Bucks head coach Jason Kidd. He’ll still be relied on for his veteran knowledge more than anything else, but his new team has significantly better chances of advancing to the playoffs compared to the Lakers.