What Do We Do With George After This Season?

LA Times: Devean George, one of the last links to the most recent string of Laker championship runs, could be in his final season as a Laker. Suddenly one of the older faces on the roster, the team’s first-round pick in 1999 is in the final year of a four-year, $18.5-million contract.

“I’m just going to play and let things happen, however they flow,” George said. “Just let the chips fall where they fall.”

He missed the first 67 games, then came back and averaged only 7.3 points while shooting 35.6%, inferior production for a player expected to help ease the transition from Shaquille O’Neal and Phil Jackson.

“It was a rough experience, coming back after having surgery,” George said. “There’s nothing like health. It takes something bad like that to happen to get you to change things and get you to work out a different way. Now that I’m over it, I’m kind of glad I went through it because it helped me out.”

George worked on his ball-handling during the off-season and arrived at camp 10 pounds slimmer.

Filling the role as the Lakers’ sixth man, George has averaged 9.5 points in only 18 minutes a game but had a 22-point effort on 10-for-12 shooting last Tuesday against the Washington Wizards.

“I think he looks comfortable playing,” Jackson said. “That’s the one thing I felt last year, that he didn’t look comfortable playing.”

What do the Lakers do with George? Do we trade him at midseason’s trade deadline or do we keep him and try to re-sign him for cheap next summer? What do you guys expect out of Devean this year? Sound off in our CL.com Forums!