The Los Angeles Lakers have agreed to sign point guard Jordan Farmar to a one-year, veteran minimum deal worth approximately $1 million.
Farmar has spent the last year playing in the Turkish Basketball League this past season, and was required to take a financial hit in order for the deal with the Lakers to be completed.
"They knew about my deal overseas and really didn't push it earlier because they didn't think I'd be willing to give up that guaranteed money I had over there," Farmar said in a phone interview with ESPNLosAngeles.com. "I wanted to be back in the NBA, but more importantly, back with the Lakers. This is the only situation I would have taken a minimum deal with."
He added:
"The plan for me was to get back to the NBA eventually regardless," Farmar said. "I really, really enjoyed my time in Israel. I thought it was a possibility that it would be exactly the same [in Turkey] and I would hop on over there and never look back and I would make good money overseas, but just being over there and staying up until 2, 3, 4 in the morning and watching every NBA game, or watching the Lakers go through what they were going through was just tough.
"I missed my family, I missed being home and, ultimately, I missed being a Laker."
Other than bringing Farmar on board, according to an Orange County Register report, the Lakers intend to waive Metta World Peace.
If World Peace is waived due to the amnesty rule, his father, Ron Artest Sr., would like to see his son end his career in his hometown New York.
"He wants to stay with the Lakers for a couple of more years but if not, he wants to finish his career in New York if he can. This would be full circle."
According to the New York Post, the Knicks are in search of a defensive small forward off the free-agent market and World Peace is intriguing to them. The Queensbridge product would seek the $1.4 million veteran's minimum, which is basically what the Knicks have to offer.
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