Derek Fisher Cannot Return To Lakers, But Plenty Of Teams Reportedly Interested

Derek Fisher has undergone some surprising moves over the last week. First he was traded by the Los Angeles Lakers to the Houston Rockets in what essentially amount to a salary dump. Sunday, he was bought out by the Rockets and became a free agent.

The veteran point guard won't be able to return to the Lakers due to new wording in the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement, but there are quite a few teams that are interested in signing the experienced point guard who has quite a bit of NBA playoff experience.

The Oklahoma City Thunder, Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs have all weighed their options regarding the possibility of signing Fisher, according to ESPN's Marc Stein.

Sources close to the situation told ESPN.com's Marc Stein that the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are still trying to fill the void created by Eric Maynor's season-ending knee injury, are deciding whether to register a formal bid for Fisher. Sources say that the Los Angeles Clippers, by contrast, are not likely to try to sign Fisher, though they also have a need for a playoff-tested guard after Chauncey Billups' season-ending Achilles' tear and with Chris Paul carrying a heavy load.

The Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat are two teams said to be strongly interested in Fisher, while sources told Stein that the San Antonio Spurs have not yet ruled out pursuing Fisher because their planned signing of former Portland Trail Blazers guard Patty Mills has been held up by the fact that Portland has not yet renounced rights to Mills.

Stein reports that Fisher has no plans to retire, meaning there's a good chance he joins up with one of those teams once he's able to clear waivers on Wednesday afternoon.

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