Shannon Brown's Improvement Could Be Bad News for Los Angeles Lakers

Shannon Brown has improved.

Fans of the Los Angeles Lakers have been excited about how well Brown has been playing this season. The 24 year old combo guard has shown quite a bit of improvement since last season. His three point shooting has jumped from 33 percent to an astounding 51 percent. In fact, he's shooting well enough that head coach Phil Jackson has opted to go with Brown over starting forward Ron Artest in the closing moments of the game.

So, there's a big reason why Lakers fans should be excited about Brown.

The bad thing about his improvement, though, is that there is now an increased chance of him wearing a different color jersey next season.

After last season ended, Brown opted out of his contract in search of a bigger deal. When the Lakers decided against paying him big bucks, he shopped his services to other NBA teams. Brown couldn't find a deal that satisfied him, so he opted to return to the Lakers bench. 

The free agency experience from last summer sparked something inside of Brown. There was a part of him that was disappointed that he could not get a bigger deal than the one that he signed to return to the Lakers. So, rather than mope around, Brown decided to hit the gym. He started working on his outside shot. Based on what we've seen so far this season, it has paid off.

Now, Brown is going to want to be paid.

The 6'4", 210 pound guard signed a 2 year deal with the Lakers for $4.6 million. However, he does have an option in his contract that enables him to terminate the contract after this season. With his stock rising, there's a good chance that Brown leaves.