Lakers News: 2022 LA Two-Way Player Joining East Contender
It looks like Cole Swider's tenure with your Los Angeles Lakers has come to an end.
The 6'9" small forward has inked a new agreement with the Miami Heat, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium.
Although the nature of the agreement has yet to be released, and Miami actually has two openings on its standard 15-man roster, it seems likeliest that Swider will join the defending Eastern Conference champs either on a two-way contract (Miami has one vacancy there) or an Exhibit 10 training camp deal.
The Heat, injury-plagued throughout a 44-38 2022-23 regular season, made league history as one of just two eighth seeds to advance all the way to the NBA Finals. The team in recent years has seemed to have a keen eye on undrafted talent (much like Los Angeles, which snagged Alex Caruso and Austin Reaves that way), so Miami's interest in Swider can be seen as a compliment to LA's scouting, if anything.
Swider averaged a scant 5.9 minutes across just seven contests for the Lakers proper, though he made more of an impression on the club's NBAGL affiliate, the South Bay Lakers. The 24-year-old notched 17.1 points on an impressive .506/.436/.838 slash line, 4.8 boards, 1.8 dimes and 0.8 swipes a night, across 27 South Bay games.
The fate of his fellow 2022-23 two-way Laker Scotty Pippen Jr. remains unclear, but with LA having filled up all its two-way openings already this offseason, he seems destined for a new address, too.
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