Lakers Sign Rookie Jabari Brown To Multi-Year Deal; Waive Steve Nash

The Los Angeles Lakers are in the midst of an extensive rebuilding process with no telling what the future holds for the storied franchise. Although the future remains uncertain, the team has seen some of their young players develop quickly this season.

One of those young players is former D-League leading scoring Jabari Brown. After two consecutive 10-day contracts with the Lakers, Brown has proven his worth. Brown has signed a multi-year contract with the team and to make room for Brown the Lakers have waived Steve Nash, according to Lakers.com:

The Los Angeles Lakers have waived guard Steve Nash and signed guard Jabari Brown to a multi-year contract, it was announced today by General Manager Mitch Kupchak. Per team policy, terms of the agreement were not released.

Last week, Nash announced his intention to retire once the 2014-15 NBA season comes to an end. With Nash not returning, the Lakers decided to part ways in order to make room for Brown.

In 11 games with the Lakers this season, Brown is averaging 9.1 points per game while shooting 47.2 percent from the floor. Impressive numbers for a player that had been playing in the NBA D-League for the entire season until getting called up recently. Brown was leading the D-League in scoring at 24.4 points per game for the Los Angeles D-Fenders before the Lakers signed him.

Brown joins a young backcourt in Los Angeles with fellow former Missouri Tigers guard Jordan Clarkson and Jeremy Lin. The Tigers product will have a shot to remain with the Lakers with a spot on the Lakers Summer League team with a non-guaranteed deal. Clarkson, Brown and Julius Randle will highlight the Lakers roster this summer along with a few other rookies the team will likely acquire in the 2015 NBA draft.