Antawn Jamison Remains Frustrated By Reduced Role

Los Angeles Lakers backup forward Antawn Jamison hasn’t gotten off the pine at all the last five games, and it continues to eat away at him. He is averaging 7.2 points in 25 games, five of which he started. Jamison spoke to the LA Times and LA Daily News about the frustration (and confusion) he feels about not getting any playing time from head coach Mike D’Antoni: “My only thing is let me know why. I don’t think you go from starting and 30-something minutes to not in the rotation whatsoever. And not explaining to me what exactly happened, that’s the toughest thing. There’s nothing you can do but be positive and support your teammates. The only reason I came here was they said I was going to play and to win a championship.’ Earlier Friday, D’Antoni said Jamison would ‘probably’ get back into the rotation. ‘Everybody gets another chance and stuff,’ he said. ‘We’re playing nine guys and I’m really liking Metta [World Peace]. We don’t want to lose Antawn because he does what he does. We’ll see. Antawn’s ready to roll if we need him.’ It was assumed his stats would drop after he averaged 17.2 points last season for the hapless Cleveland Cavaliers. It wasn’t assumed he would sit on the bench several games in a row. ‘There’s a competitor in me that wants to compete and I know I can help the team,’ Jamison said. ‘Whenever I get answers, I guess I’ll feel … better about the situation, but nothing has been told to me why nothing has happened or that I did anything wrong. DNPs for the first time in my career. I have not had a conversation with [D’Antoni] about anything about the situation.’ […] ‘It doesn’t make sense at all,’ Jamison said. ‘They’re pretty much telling me my services are no longer needed.'”