Golden State Warriors center David Lee may have played his last game for the 2015 NBA champions in Game 6 of their series against the Cleveland Cavaliers Tuesday after the team reportedly spoke with his agent to help find him a new team, ESPN's Marc Stein first reported about the news.
Lee found himself sitting on the bench for the majority of the year after losing the starting role to forward Draymond Green following a great start for Golden State during the regular season.
The 32-year-old was performing well in training camp before the start of last season until he suffered a hamstring injury that sidelined him.
Unfortunately that would spell the end of him having heavy minutes as Green performed very well in his place that even after recovery, the much younger big man was the one getting the playing time.
The rise of centers Marreese Speights and Festus Ezeli just made it worse for Lee in terms of minutes.
In Stein's report, sources said the Warriors and Lee's agent, Mark Bartelstein, came in to terms of helping each other to find a new team for the big man as they thought it would be unfair for him to have a limited role next season after what happened this year.
Lee is set to earn $15.4 million next season after signing a five-year pact worth $80 million with Golden State in 2010.
He played in 49 regular season games averaging only 7.9 points per outing and only had 13 appearances in this year's postseason.
In an interview with ESPN Radio after Game 1 of the Finals, Lee said that last season was a lerning experience for him as he saw the different side of the NBA.
"I've never really, I don't think, had the true respect for guys ... to see guys that don't get a chance to play very often and come out and produce on a consistent basis -- I never knew how difficult that was," he said.
"So it's really been a great learning experience for me this year. And while it's been frustrating as a competitor to not be in there as much as I want to be in there, it's been kind of cool to let go of my ego this year and say, 'Hey, this is about the team,'" Lee added.
