Jul 9, 2008 3:33 pm US/Pacific
Turiaf Agrees To Sign 4-Year Deal With Warriors
LOS ANGELES (AP) ―
The Golden State Warriors have agreed to a four-year contract offer with Lakers free agent Ronny Turiaf, The Riverside Press-Enterprise reported on Wednesday.
If the 25-year-old Turiaf switches cities, he would join a National Basketball Association team that already includes one other French player, foward Mickael Pietrus. Like Turiaf, Pietrus is also a free agent.
The Los Angeles Lakers have seven days to match Golden State's offer and keep Turiaf. The offer is reported to be worth a total of 17 million dollars or 4.2 million dollars a season.
Turiaf, of Martinique, averaged 18 minutes and 6.6 points per game with the Lakers last season.
Nothing is official and Turiaf's agent, Mark Bartelstein, would not confirm or deny the offer when contacted by the California newspaper.
"We've talked to a bunch of teams," Bartelstein told the paper in a phone interview. "There are a lot of teams that are interested in Ronny. We'll just wait to see what happens."
A star player at Gonzaga college in the US, Turiaf had a rocky start to his professional career, as the French native had to undergo open-heart surgery in July 2005 after a physical exam found an enlarged aortic root.
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