Report: Cedi Osman rejected training camp invite from Lakers

Former Cleveland Cavaliers forward Cedi Osman allegedly spurned a training camp invitation from the Los Angeles Lakers to sign with a professional basketball team in Greece named Panathinaikos.

“He also received interest from the Los Angeles Lakers, which invited him for a training camp; however, due to the lack of guarantees about making it to the season roster, he decided to refuse and come back to Europe,” wrote Nikola Miloradovic of Eurohoops.

Osman is returning to his home continent after inking a deal with Panathinaikos, as he was born in North Macedonia.

The 29-year-old has played seven seasons in the NBA, and he spent the majority of his time in the league playing for the Cavaliers. But it’s of note that he was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the first pick of the second round of the 2015 NBA Draft.

Osman was fortunate enough to begin his NBA tenure with a great Cavaliers team. In his rookie season, the 2017-18 campaign, Cleveland was led by none other than LeBron James and reached the NBA Finals.

Impressively, Osman carved out a real role on the Cavaliers in his inaugural NBA season. He played in 61 games during the regular season and averaged 3.9 points, 2.0 rebounds, 0.7 assists and 0.4 steals per game.

Osman was a serviceable reserve for Cleveland, but it wasn’t until the following season — when James left the Cavaliers for the Lakers — that he received a sizable amount of touches and playing time.

He enjoyed what was perhaps the most productive season of his NBA career as a sophomore. In 76 games and 75 starts during the 2018-19 regular season, he averaged a career-high 13.0 points while shooting 42.7 percent from the field and 34.8 percent from deep and also chipped in 4.7 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 0.8 steals per contest.

Osman played a grand total of 404 regular-season games and 19 playoff games with the Cavaliers before the team decided to trade him to the San Antonio Spurs in the 2023 offseason in a three-team deal that involved the Miami Heat as well.

His stint in San Antonio was brief. Osman spent just one season with the Spurs and averaged 6.8 points per game in a bench role during the 2023-24 regular season.

Time will tell if Osman made the right decision for his basketball career by declining the Lakers’ training camp offer and heading overseas.