The biggest takeaway from Metta World Peace’s press conference with the media following his exit interview with the Los Angeles Lakers front office was that it sounded highly unlikely he’d be returning to the team for another season.
World Peace averaged 2.3 points in 6.4 minutes per game over the course of 25 appearances for the Lakers during the 2016-17 season, and in most cases a player with those numbers either departing their team or not being brought back wouldn’t be anything close to a surprise.
However, it was clear over the last two years that the organization — especially Lakers Head Coach Luke Walton — valued World Peace, so it wouldn’t have been totally out of the question for some to imagine him overcoming the odds to make it to training camp with the team once again to continue mentoring their young players.