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Former Lakers Guard Announces Retirement After Long Career

Matt Levine

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The Los Angeles Lakers have seen plenty of players come through their historic organization over the years. Sometimes players will stay for a long time while others just pop in to wear the purple and gold for a short time.

One player who didn't spend too much time with Los Angeles is point guard D.J. Augustin. Despite this, he is part of the Lakers family forever.

Augustin just announced his retirement from basketball after playing in the NBA for 14 seasons. He only played 21 games with Los Angeles but the Lakers are part of his long basketball journey.

Augustin was originally drafted by the Charlotte Hornets back in the 2008 NBA Draft. He attended the University of Texas for college and was part of the First-Team All Big-12 Team in 2008.

He used this to be taken with the ninth overall pick as Charlotte saw him as their future point guard. Augustin recorded 12 points and two assists in 25 minutes in his NBA debut. He averaged 11.8 points and 3.5 assists per game during his rookie season in the league.

The guard spent a few seasons with the Bobcats before joining the Indiana Pacers in 2012. He spent one year with Indiana before the Toronto Raptors.

Augustin spent time with the Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, Denver Nuggets, and Oklahoma City Thunder between 2013-2016. He then landed with the Orlando Magic, where he spent the next few seasons.

After his time with the Magic, Augustin headed to the Milwaukee Bucks, Houston Rockets, and eventually the Lakers. With Los Angeles, he averaged 5.3 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game.

The journeyman shot 42.6 percent from beyond the 3-point line with the Lakers. Los Angeles didn't make the playoffs with Augustin on the roster and didn't return the following season.

He landed with the Rockets again but never logged a game. Augustin was waiting to see if another offer came in but it never did so he decided to call his career quits.

Despite never making an All-Star team or winning a title, Augustin put together a nice career for himself. Spending 14 years in the NBA isn't easy to do and he became known as a solid backup point guard in the league.

He averaged 9.5 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game over 976 games played.

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Matt Levine
MATT LEVINE

Matt earned a Master of Science degree in Sport Management from Louisiana State University in 2021. He was born and raised in the Los Angeles area, covering all Southern California sports in his career.

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