Japan the right choice for Landen Lucas

After 5-years of hard work on the Kansas basketball team, Landen Lucas is taking his game overseas. He will play next season in Japan.

Landen Lucas spent 5-years in Lawrence and began the next chapter of his basketball life earlier this month on the NBA summer league roster of the Boston Celtics. The 6-foot-10, 240-pound forward saw action in two Utah summer games and all five in Las Vegas.

He played about 10 plus minutes in each game, averaged just over 3 rebounds and didn’t do much scoring. That is what Landen does – the dirty work. I believed coach Brad Stevens and the Celtics might need some rebounding help off the bench this season. I thought Lucas could fill that role nicely. At the time, I didn’t expect the Celtics to sign former Kansas star Paul Pierce.

All things considered, Lucas is doing the right thing by taking his game overseas. In addition to a twitter update on his move, the sideline sports mom blog reported Tuesday Lucas is returning to play in Japan.  The blog said a team gave Lucas a guaranteed offer.  It certainly sounds like the right move at this time.

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I have spent a considerable amount of time in many parts of Japan. I wouldn’t want to live there. Lucas is far more familiar with Japan than I am. He grew up in Japan while his dad play pro basketball there. He is also fluent in Japanese. The opportunity to return and get paid to play basketball there is far better than riding the bus in the NBA G League. With a little more work, the NBA may find a place for him in the future.