Lakers News: One Name Notably Absent From LA's Summer League Roster Thus Far
Which young Los Angeles Lakers players and roster hopefuls will be making their way to the team's Summer League roster once LA kicks off its tenure at the California Classic in Sacramento on July 3rd, you ask?
Although we don't know everybody, the names we do have are fascinating, perhaps mostly due to one very apparent omission.
Summer League teams generally carry around 15 players, like a standard NBA roster, so presumably Los Angeles will ink more undrafted free agents and young journeymen types in the weeks to come ahead of start of the California Classic and Las Vegas Summer Leagues in early July.
Per Alberto De Roa of HoopsHype, eight names have been revealed thus far among the club's Summer League roster.
3-and-D shooting guard Max Christie, who even cracked LA's rotation at one point during his promising 2022-23 rookie season after LA drafted him with the No. 35 pick out of Michigan State University, will suit up for his second straight Summer League in the hopes of further finessing his game.
The five new additions LA added on draft night will be joining Christie in Sacramento and Vegas. That tally includes the club's two new draft picks from Thursday: No. 17 selection Jalen Hood-Schifino, a 6'6" swingman out of Indiana University, and No. 40 overall pick Maxwell Lewis, a 6'7" small forward who cut his NCAA teeth at nearby Pepperdine University. Los Angeles also will reportedly sign two undrafted league hopefuls, defense-first Missouri shooting guard D'Moi Hodge and All-SEC University of Florida power forward/center Colin Castleton, to two-way contracts. Finally among this group, the Lakers also extended an Exhibit 10 training camp deal to Castleton's fellow Gator, raw small forward prospect Alex Fudge. Fudge, too, will be there for Summer League.
Ex-Texas Christian University point guard Damion Baugh has also earned a Summer League audition with LA this year. The exact terms of his Lakers deal have not been revealed, though it seems like it's another Exhibit 10 agreement.
Rounding out the current group of Summer League invitees is a 2022-23 two-way rookie signing, power forward Cole Swider, whose (mostly still-theoretical) ability to spread the floor as a stretch four makes him an appetizing potential piece for Los Angeles, though it's unclear if the team will retain him with its third and final two-way player slot in 2023-24.
Swider's former fellow 2022-23 two-way player, combo guard Scotty Pippen Jr., is notably missing from De Roa's list of the Lakers' Summer League roster thus far. Does that mean that Swider has the inside track on nabbing that final two-way opening next year? It certainly seems that way.
Neither player made much of an impact at the NBA level last season, with each suiting up for spot minutes in just seven or fewer games.
On the Lakers' G League affiliate in El Segundo, the South Bay Lakers, they both looked somewhat promising. Across 27 contests with South Bay, Swider averaged 17.1 points on .506/.436/.838 shooting splits, 4.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 0.8 steals a night. That 43.6% three-point shooting mark is key, however. The 6'9" forward got to that rate on a high volume of three-point tries, an enticing 7.6 per.
In 19 games (just four starts) for LA's NBAGL club, Pippen (son of Chicago Bulls Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen who, yes, spells his first name differently) averaged 21.4 points on .469/.300/.771 shooting splits, 5.6 dimes, 4.1 boards and 1.6 steals a night. Pippen is more of a scorer than a lead playmaker, and as such is a bit undersized in that capacity (he's 6'3", basically point guard-sized, but would be a better fit as a two guard). His inconsistent jumper also seems to be a detriment to him getting much run at the NBA level.
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