Lakers claim Avery Bradley off of waivers

For a while it seemed quite likely that Avery Bradley would be playing on Tuesday when the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers meet on the first day of the NBA season. But after the Warriors waived the veteran guard following their preseason finale on Friday night, that no longer looked to be the case.

But now it seems that Bradley will, indeed, be lacing up his sneakers and heading to the Staples Center on Tuesday. It’s just that he’ll be a member of a different team now.

On Monday, on the eve of a new NBA season, the Lakers claimed Bradley off of waivers.

Bradley has plenty of experience in LA, having played for the Lakers team that won a championship two seasons ago, during the bubble (he’s also played for the Los Angeles Clippers). He’ll also become the eleventh (eleventh!!) player on the Lakers roster to be entering their tenth season or later.

It wasn’t a good preseason for Bradley, who has struggled the last few years, but it was still mildly surprising that the Dubs opted to waive him. The Athletic’s Marcus Thompson II reported over the weekend that, “In releasing Avery Bradley, the Warriors had to thwart the wishes of their best players, according to team sources. Stephen Curry and Draymond Green were among a group of strong advocates for keeping Bradley.”

Perhaps the Warriors will see on Tuesday that they made a poor choice or, more likely, perhaps Bradley will simply sit on the Lakers bench.

Either way, he’ll be in the arena, just as we all thought. Just in a different set of colors.