ATLANTA -- Chris Kaman has stopped trying to figure out how he fell so far out of the Los Angeles Lakers' rotation.
The veteran center says he joined the team as a free agent this summer because he saw opportunity to play significant minutes and re-establish his value after a couple of up-and-down seasons with New Orleans and Dallas.
Instead he's found himself at the end of the Lakers' bench.
"It's absolutely not what I was looking for," Kaman told ESPNLosAngeles.com on Monday morning after the Lakers' shootaround. "It's not really in my control. I just try to keep working hard and be ready if the time comes. And if it doesn't, then it just wasn't meant to be."
Kaman "tweaked" his back in practice a few weeks ago when he twisted and someone hit him from behind. But he said he's back to 100 percent and ready to go if called upon.
Kaman scored nine points in 12 minutes in the second half of the Lakers' blowout loss to Oklahoma City on Friday but didn't get into the game the next night in a win over the Bobcats.
He did not play due to a coach's decision in Monday night's 114-100 loss to Atlanta.
With players who signed as free agents in the offseason able to be traded as of Sunday, Kaman would be a logical candidate to be moved because he isn't playing much and he makes $3.2 million on a team that's $7.8 million over luxury tax.
He said he's heard nothing on that front and isn't expecting to, either.
"I haven't," Kaman said, when asked if he'd heard from the Lakers or anyone else about whether he'd be moved. "The conversations I've had have been, 'Let's stick with it. Let's play it out a little more. Let's see where things go.' So I just try to be ready and be positive. I'm not going to let it take away from me having fun and being a good person. I just do the best I can with what I've got."
In the 13 games he has played for the Lakers, Kaman has averaged 8.3 points and 5.1 rebounds in less than 17 minutes.
Still, it's been a frustrating experience.
"Never did I think I would come here and not play, otherwise I probably wouldn't have come," Kaman said. "I had a bunch of other options, but I saw opportunity here."