With the Orlando Magic having released forward Hedo Turkoglu on Friday, the Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly interested in acquiring the versatile Turkish player who helped the Magic reach the 2009 NBA Finals.
The 34-year old Turkoglu was scheduled to make $12 million this year, with $6 million guaranteed. By releasing him before the January 7 deadline, the Magic were able to save the remaining $6 million in his contract. He will become an unrestricted free agent once he clears waivers.
"I wanna thank [Magic owner] Rich and Helen Devos and all the Devos family for making me feel part of the family for all these years," Turkoglu tweeted as reported by SI.com. "God bless them I also wanna thank my number [one] supporters all the Orlando Magic fans and [the] city of Orlando for all these years for the great memories. Orlando will always be my second home."
But Turkoglu may find himself with a new team if reports that the Lakers are interested in him have any semblance of truth. LakersNation.com is reporting that per Ismail Senol of NTV SPOR in Istanbul, the Turkish forward has offers from the Lakers as well as the Atlanta Hawks, and thus won't entertain thoughts of playing in Europe.
Despite his advanced age, Turkoglu could help the Lakers with his ball handling skills especially now that Lakers guards Steve Nash, Jordan Farmar and Steve Blake are on the injured list. He can also provide much needed veteran leadership and scoring to a team that has lost six straight games. He has career averages of 11.9 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 13 NBA seasons. He was the NBA's Most Improved Player in 2008.
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