When Malik Monk left the Charlotte Hornets to sign a minimum contact with the Los Angeles Lakers this past offseason, it shocked the basketball world. He had just had his best season yet was signing a very cheap contract on a team with other young guards.

Monk reflected on his time with the Hornets to Dave McMenamin of ESPN. He said that he was not sure of how much they wanted him there based on the playing time he got under James Borrego, which led to some inconsistent effort that allowed the Lakers to sign him for so cheap.

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“I didn't put that much effort in Charlotte,” he says, “because I was getting mixed signals from everybody and I'm like, ‘Oh, they really don't want me here so I'm just going to shoot the ball and give 50 percent on defense.' And it don't work like that. You can't give 50 percent on something and think you're going to get 100 percent back.”

The Lakers were Monk's only option at one point in free agency. They essentially made his decision for him, as his track record with the Hornets seemed to have done a lot of damage to his value.

Monk is averaging career-highs of 12.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game on 46.4 percent field-goal shooting with the Lakers. His steady shooting has been one of the few positives from this abysmal season in LA. Although the team around him failed, Monk should be able to have an increased market this offseason. If not, returning to the Lakers makes a lot of sense.