Kendrick Nunn Picks Up Player Option, Will Stay With Lakers, per Report

The point guard didn’t appear in a game last season after dealing with a knee injury.

As the Lakers enter an offseason with plenty of work to do to make a return to the playoffs, one addition from last summer has reportedly committed to coming back.

Point guard Kendrick Nunn has picked up his player option for next season, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. Nunn will make $5.25 million in 2022-23.

The veteran guard agreed to a two-year deal last offseason, but ended up not appearing in a game for the Lakers after battling a knee injury. Nunn had spent his first two NBA seasons with the Heat after going undrafted in the 2018 NBA draft. In two seasons in Miami, he averaged 15.0 points and 3.0 assists per game on 36.4% shooting on three-point attempts, emerging as a key rotation player during the Heat’s run to the 2020 NBA Finals.

Nunn will join the rest of the Lakers’ returning nucleus of players still under contract from next season, a group that includes LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook and Talen-Horton Tucker. Los Angeles finished 33-49 last season, missing the playoffs for the seventh time in nine years. The Lakers fired head coach Frank Vogel as a result, and replaced him with former Bucks assistant Darvin Ham.

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