Jul 25, 2008 - 8:30 PM
0 shoutsRIVERSIDE, California (Ticker) -- With the recent exodus of NBA players overseas, restricted free agent guard Sasha Vujacic appeared to be next one in line. But the Los Angeles Lakers made sure that wasn't going to happen Friday, according to a report in The Press-Enterprise.
The newspaper reported that, after some tense negotiations, the Lakers and Vujacic agreed to a three-year, $15 million contract.
Vujacic rebuffed the Lakers' original offer of three years, $12 million, leading the 3-point specialist and his representatives to threaten to follow recent NBA defectors such as the Atlanta Hawks' Josh Childress and the Toronto Raptors' Carlos Delfino, who each received large multi-million-dollar deals to play in Greece and Russia, respectively.
However, Vujacic - who had planned to take a red-eye flight from Los Angeles to Europe on Friday - never left Los Angeles.
The 6-7 Vujacic averaged a career-high 8.8 points last season and shot 45 percent from the field, including 44 percent from the arc, helping him earn the nickname "The Machine" because of his prolific shooting which helped Los Angeles earn a berth in the NBA Finals.
