LOS ANGELES LAKERS WEBSITE -- CLICK HERE
ESPN.COM STORY ON DEVEAN GEORGE (7/17/02) -- CLICK HERE
LA TIMES STORY ON DEVEAN GEORGE (7/18/02) -- CLICK HERE (free registration required)
ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER STORY ON DEVEAN GEORGE (7/18/02) -- CLICK HERE
LA DAILY NEWS STORY ON DEVEAN GEORGE (7/18/02) -- CLICK HERE

LOS ANGELES (7/18/02) -- Augsburg College alumnus Devean George '99 agreed to a four-year, approximately $21 million contract to remain with the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday, staying with the team on which he has earned three straight NBA championship rings.

George, a Minneapolis native, signed the contract in Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon. In an official release Thursday, the Lakers declined to reveal official specifics of George's contract.

However, according to published accounts Wednesday and Thursday, George agreed to the full "mid-level exemption" the Lakers could offer the veteran. The mid-level exemption, according to the NBA's collective bargaining agreement, is between $4.5 and $4.7 million for the 2002-03 season, with allowances for 10-percent raises in subsequent years. Published reports placed the total value of George's four-year deal between $18.2 and $21.0 million, making him the fourth-highest-paid player on the Lakers' roster.

Los Angeles chose not to exercise its fourth-year option on Devean when he entered the third year of his contract at the beginning of the 2001-02 season, making Devean an unrestricted free agent this summer. Wednesday was the first day that free agents could sign with NBA clubs.

"They stepped up," George said of the Lakers in a Thursday story in the Orange County Register. "I'm happy. Let's get a fourth ring."

George visited with five other teams during the two weeks that teams could court free agents -- Minnesota, Washington, Chicago, New Jersey and Utah -- and between 12 and 15 teams had contacted him, George's Chicago-based agent, Mark Bartelstein, told the Los Angeles Times and ESPN.com this week. Bartelstein told ESPN.com that Minnesota and Utah were willing to offer him six-year deals, but he chose to remain in Los Angeles.

"He probably took a few years less than he could've gotten elsewhere," Bartelstein said in an ESPN.com story Wednesday. "But this is where he wanted to be. The Lakers were his first choice."

Bartelstein said that George may have passed up a possible starting role for another team to remain a Laker. This season, George emerged as one of the key players off the bench for the club, playing in a backup small forward role behind veteran Rick Fox.

"Devean didn't want it hanging out there forever," Bartelstein told the Los Angeles Times in a story Thursday. "We had a good idea what the market was for him. There was a lot of interest and he had a lot of suitors. But if the Lakers could get to that level, then I knew that was what he was going to want to do.

"Winning a championship is a difficult thing," Bartelstein added. "He's done it three times in a row. He feels like he's really grown with the team. He feels like his role is going to continue to flourish. ... He basically was really enjoying his life. When it's all said and done, this is a 24-year-old guy who can be a huge part of their future for a long, long time. You don't let a guy like that get away. I think that's the conclusion they came to."

This season, George became the seventh player in NBA history to be a member of a league championship team in each of the first three seasons of his career, as his Los Angeles Lakers completed a four-game sweep of the New Jersey Nets in the 2002 NBA Finals.

George's third season with the Lakers was the best of his NBA career so far. He averaged 21.5 minutes per game during the regular season, with career-high per-game averages of 7.1 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. He hit career highs of 41.1 percent from the field and 37.1 percent from three-point range. He was one of only three Lakers to see action in all 82 regular-season games in 2001-02.

He struggled through the early part of the 2002 playoffs, but had his best games in the NBA Finals against New Jersey, when he averaged 5.0 points and 3.6 rebounds per game in the four-game sweep.

George continues to make history for players from the non-scholarship, NCAA Division III level. In 1999, he became the first Division III player ever selected in the first round of the NBA Draft, when the Lakers made him the 23rd overall selection. He is one of only seven players who played Division III basketball to see playing time in the NBA. And he remains the only player who played Division III basketball to ever play in the NBA Finals [Jack Sikma (Illinois Wesleyan '77, Seattle in the finals 1978-79) and Terry Porter (Wisconsin-Stevens Point '85, Portland in the finals 1990-92) played at what are now NCAA Division III schools, but those schools were members of the NAIA when they played.].

George was the third Augsburg player to ever be drafted by an NBA team (Augsburg was an NAIA school prior to 1985), and the second to play professionally at the sport's highest level. Dan Anderson '65 was drafted in the 12th round by the Philadelphia 76ers in 1965. He later played in the ABA with the New Jersey Americans (later New Jersey Nets) from 1967-70. Greg Boone '81, who played for the Auggies from 1979-81, was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers as a 10th-round pick in 1981, but never played in the NBA.

Lakers on national TV often in 2002-03
Devean George fans across the country will have plenty of chances to see him in action with the Los Angeles Lakers, winners of the last three NBA titles. The 2002-03 NBA schedule was released on Thursday, and 24 of the Lakers' 82 games will be nationally televised on either TNT, ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC. For the full Lakers' schedule, click here.

The Lakers will also visit George's hometown, Minneapolis, twice this season to face the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Target Center -- on Tuesday, Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. and on Friday, March 14 at 7 p.m.

Here is the Lakers' 2002-03 national TV schedule (all times are Central):
Tue., Oct. 29, vs. San Antonio, 9:30 p.m., TNT
Wed., Oct. 30, at Portland, 8:30 p.m., ESPN
Thu., Nov. 7, at Boston, 6:30 p.m., TNT
Fri., Nov. 8, at Washington, 7 p.m., ESPN
Wed., Nov. 27, at Orlando, 6 p.m., ESPN
Fri., Dec. 6, vs. Dallas, 9:30 p.m., ESPN
Fri., Dec. 13, vs. New Orleans, 9:30 p.m., ESPN
Thu., Dec. 19, at New Jersey, 6:30 p.m., TNT
Fri., Dec. 20, at Philadelphia, 7 p.m., ESPN
Wed., Dec. 25, vs. Sacramento, 7:30 p.m., ABC
Fri., Jan. 17, at Houston, 8:30 p.m., ESPN
Mon., Jan. 20, vs. LA Clippers, 9 p.m., TNT
Fri., Jan. 24, vs. New Jersey, 8:30 p.m., ESPN2
Fri., Jan. 31, at Sacramento, 9:30 p.m., ESPN
Thu., Feb. 6, at New York, 6:30 p.m., TNT
Fri., Feb. 14, vs. San Antonio, 9:30 p.m., ESPN
Thu., Feb. 27, vs. Detroit, 9 p.m., TNT
Sun., March 9, vs. Philadelphia, 2:30 p.m., ABC
Thu., March 20, at Sacramento, 9 p.m., TNT
Fri., March 21, vs. Boston, 9:30 p.m., ESPN
Sun., March 23, at San Antonio, 12 noon, ABC
Thu., April 3, at Dallas, 6:30 p.m., TNT
Thu., April 10, vs. Sacramento, 9 p.m., TNT
Sun., April 13, at Portland, 2:30 p.m., ABC