Lakers Summer League Guard Signs with International Team

L.A. has lost out on a Las Vegas Lakers-era guard.

Apr 9, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; The Los Angeles Lakers logo on the video board at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The Los Angeles Lakers are losing a Summer League stalwart to an international club.

Journeyman former NBA shooting guard Trent Forrest, who most recently suited up with the Lakers' Summer League squad in Las Vegas, has signed on with an international club to continue his career.

Per Sportando, the 6-foot-4 swingman out of Florida State University has signed on with Spanish squad Saski Baskonia for a two-season deal.

Forrest went undrafted following a decorated NCAA run with the Seminoles, with whom he was named an All-SEC Second Teamer in 2020. He's suited up with the Utah Jazz and Atlanta Hawks during a four-season career. Across 151 career NBA games (and just nine starts), Forrest boasts averages of 2.8 points on .444/.185/.828 shooting splits, 1.9 assists and 1.5 rebounds.

Forrest had joined the Hawks in 2022-23 as a two-way player, appearing in just 23 contests for Atlanta that season, and posting averages of 2.3 points a game. He re-signed with the Hawks in the summer of 2023 on a second two-way deal with the franchise, later seeing that contract converted to a standard agreement in late February.

Across 38 contests as a reserve in 2023-24, Forrest logged averages of 2.2 points on a .378/.200/.765 slash line and 2.4 dimes a night, during 10.9 minutes per.

In a pair of Las Vegas Summer League appearances with the Lakers this year (one start), Forrest averaged 1.0 points on 16.7 percent field goal shooting, 4.0 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.5 rebounds.

Those numbers don't exactly pop off the page. Across nine G League regular season games during two seasons with the Hawks' NBAGL affiliate, the College Park Skyhawks, the 26-year-old Forrest averaged a scant 7.5 points on .607/.800/.800 shooting splits, 4.2 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 1.2 steals a night.

Los Angeles had one major Summer League standout this season, at Forrest's position: rookie shooting guard Dalton Knecht. The former Tennessee Volunteers All-American superstar fell to the No. 17 pick, where Los Angeles quickly picked up the 23-year-old.

Across six total games at the California Classic and the Las Vegas Summer League, the 6-foot-6 wing logged averages of 18.0 points on .367/.342/.767 shooting splits, 4.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.5 steals a night. The Lakers are doubtless hoping that Knecht can emerge as a win-now rookie contributor this season. They haven't done much this offseason, outside of drafting him.

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