NBA Rumors: Lakers Are Superior Option to Heat and Knicks for Grant Hill

Grant Hill is delaying the inevitable.

According to NBA rumors, the 39-year-old will pick one of three teams to play with next year. But if he’s thinking straight this offseason, he’ll sign with the Los Angeles Lakers. His other options simply can’t offer the same playing time and/or chance for a championship.

Frank Isola of the New York Daily News reported Hill’s potential landing spots. He tweeted:

"

Grant Hill, NBA's second oldest player behind Kurt Thomas, is considering Knicks, Lakers & Heat. Hill's wife, the singer Tamia, prefers NY

— Frank Isola (@FisolaNYDN) July 15, 2012"

While any one of those cities would be a phenomenal location to live, only one makes sense for Hill to play basketball in.

The Miami Heat already have LeBron James, Shane Battier and James Jones at small forward.

While LeBron is versatile enough that Hill would be able to play alongside him, Battier isn’t. They’re both defensive stoppers. Why would the Heat add more of the same to take playing time away from their sharp shooter in Jones?

The New York Knicks, on the other hand, already have Carmelo Anthony and Steve Novak. Melo averages 36 minutes a game and while Novak is capable of playing power forward at 6’10”, Hill would still struggle to break into the rotation. Throw in the fact that the Knicks aren’t even legitimate championship contenders and Hill would be foolish to sign there.

On the Lakers, Hill would receive playing time and a golden opportunity to win a ring.

Metta World Peace and Christian Eyenga are the only 3s on their roster right now. Hill should easily beat out Eyenga for the second-string job given that, even at his age, he scored 179 more points last season than Eyenga did in his entire career.

Even if the Lakers re-sign Devin Ebanks, which Alex Kennedy of Hoopsworld reported an agreement has been made, but not signed, Ebanks failed to secure a spot in Mike Brown’s rotation last season and there’s no reason to believe 2013 would be any different.

His flashes of brilliance were few and far between. He finished the year with an unimpressive 8.35 player efficiency rating compared to Hill's 12.34. To put Ebanks' ineffectiveness into perspective, the league average PER is 15.0.

Hill played five years with Steve Nash. While there’s a consensus belief among Lakers fans that their ballclub needs athletic wings to fit Nash’s run-and-gun style, Nash obviously has no problem with the aging Hill—he’s recruiting him, according to ESPN.

And with the league's assist leader added to a team that finished third in the Western Conference last season with no true playmaker, Los Angeles is without a doubt a championship favorite.

This summer, if Hill doesn’t end up in LA or retire, it’d be a shocker.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

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