Troy Daniels Signs Nuggets Contract After Lakers Release

Troy Daniels didn't have to go too far to find a new NBA home. 

After the Los Angeles Lakers waived him Sunday, the guard signed a contract with the Denver Nuggets on Thursday. 

Daniels, 28, has averaged 4.2 points and 1.1 rebounds in 41 games this season. 

According to Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times, the Lakers made sure to waive Daniels before the March 2 deadline to ensure he would be eligible to join his new team's playoff roster. Waiving him also gave L.A. an open roster spot, as head coach Frank Vogel explained:

"We wanted to maintain the flexibility to add a player if we need one, if we have a particular injury to a position. If we were to do something and cross that road at some point, and we had to use Troy's roster spot, then Troy would be left out in the cold. So we wanted to do the right thing by the player and also obviously give ourselves some flexibility if we need to make some type of move in the future."

The gesture of goodwill resulted in Daniels going from the first-place team in the Western Conference to a third-place Nuggets team that sits only 6.5 games behind the Lakers. 

The Lakers might have preferred that Daniels landed on a non-playoff team or in the East, but the Nuggets were already considered a contender before they added the undrafted free agent out of VCU. His arrival in Denver won't change that calculus much. 

The Nuggets visit the Lakers on March 15 in a nationally televised contest on ESPN. A revenge game may be on the docket for Daniels, but he'll need to earn some rotation minutes first. He averaged only 11.1 minutes per game in L.A.