4:02pm: The Lakers have officially signed Bryant, according to NBA.com’s transactions log. The big man told reporters today that he’s fully recovered from the ACL tear he suffered in early 2021.
“(It feels) 100 percent great,” Bryant said (Twitter link via Kyle Goon of The Southern California News Group). “Not good. Great.”
6:01am: The Lakers have reached an agreement with free agent center Thomas Bryant and will sign him to a one-year contract, reports Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
Haynes doesn’t provide any specifics on the financial terms, but given that Los Angeles has committed to using its taxpayer mid-level exception on Lonnie Walker and is ineligible to acquire a player via sign-and-trade without shedding significant salary, it’s safe to assume it will be a minimum-salary deal.
Bryant, who will turn 25 later this month, began his NBA career with the Lakers, having been acquired from Utah in a draft-night deal in 2017. The 42nd overall pick appeared in just 15 games as a rookie with L.A. and was waived in the summer of 2018.
The Wizards claimed Bryant off waivers and the big man spent the next four seasons in D.C., though his time there was marred by injuries. After a promising 2019/20 season in which he averaged 13.2 PPG, 7.2 RPG, and 1.1 BPG in 46 games (36 starts), Bryant suffered a torn ACL early in the ’20/21 campaign. That injury resulted in him playing just 37 games over the last two seasons.
Now fully recovered from his ACL tear, Bryant drew interest from the Raptors, Celtics, Bucks, and Jazz this offseason, sources tell Haynes.
The former Indiana Hoosier could be an intriguing bounce-back candidate entering the 2022/23 season. According to Haynes, he’ll be given the opportunity to earn a spot in the starting lineup with his new team in Los Angeles.
Lakers are at least giving themselves some lineup flexibility with more youth in their role players this year. They could go with: C Bryant, PF Davis, SF James, SG Walker, PG Reaves … or C Davis, PF James SF Johnson/Walker, SG Horton Tucker, PG Nunn … or any combination of those. Assume Russ is coming off the bench.
I don’t think Russ comes off the bench without turning into an extreme distraction to the team
overall. At times last season he seemed like he was willing to be a good team mate but behind the scenes he was showing an unwillingness to adapt to a different style of play. Time will tell
but I think that the Lakers end up biting the bullet and moving him if they’re able to.
I agree that the Lakers will move Westbrook if they don’t have to cough up significant draft capital to do so. There have been reports that new coach Darvin Ham has had frank discussions with Russ about a reduced role and having a team first mindset. To me, that implies, “If we don’t find a new home for you, you’re coming off the bench.”
Was hoping he’d pick the Celtics but oh well. He’s trying to rebuild his value for the next season and will have a better chance at getting meaningful minutes with the Lakers.
Same here, I dig Bryant. Had him on my FL roster when he was playing solid
Trust in Stevens. Celts were said to have some interest in Bryant as a 4th & backup center but Lakers signing Bryant is probably better for everyone. Allows “talent scout” Stevens to select a younger & upcoming unknown. Maybe from Summer League. Go Celtics!
Still feel like C’s need another big but now ownership may be scared to go into tax any more. Stevens has had a good stretch so far but not going to blindly “trust in” Stevens & Chaim until they’ve won multiple titles like Belichick & Epstein.
the talent scout does have a guy in summer league, trevion williams.
Trevion Williams? Ok. Maybe great? I’d love to see Celtics get a young center prospect & develop him! Within the NBA’s minor league, the G-League, I’d bet there are a few bigs Stevens could offer up this opportunity to who would jump at it.
Just feel that with Al getting older and needing less mins, Big Rob being injury plagued, and the way Grant suddenly faded in the Finals this back-up big role might be important than we think.
Lakers decided to pivot away from signing guys from the retirement home. LeBron must not be picking the roster this year.
Most of their signings are Klutch guys, so…
Wonder we’re Dwight Howard and Melo will end up.
BIG 3
I actually think they could still use Melo, especially with 1 of the options to replace him having signed with the Nets. There are still a couple of others though, and the 3 and D wing they still need is a bigger deal
Two absolute cancers beyond words. Let them stay in Purple and Gold… or whatever ridiculous jerseys El Lakers are wearing these days. Ought to be Orange, Green and White, just as Los Raiders de Mehecano. So pathetic.
Lakers sign a bargain tour continues. The great Lebron experiment with 3 guys making more than the cap rolls on. Although Bryant is a better than average cheapo. Think it’s funny now that Bron Bron’s great experiment is a failure he’s talking about leaving. After all, It was his idea.
This gives them some floor spacing and depth at the 5 in certain matchups/lineups, with a bunch of guys that cant shoot, and some defensive minded 4s on their roster
They still need a 3 and D wing, and a scorer/spacing 4 off the bench, and then assuming health, and coaching using the right combinations, that should be a much improved team
I personally dont really think they need more pieces at the 5, as adding too many bugs is what hurt them last year, but at least he does different things than their other bigs. I also think this further shows how dumb getting rid of Gasol was
Davis and Lebron should still see a lot of minutes at the 5, which I’ve been saying for 3-4 years/the entire time Lebron has been in LA
Gasol was done. Could barely shoot and his max jump height was like 3 inches off the ground.
Gasol was leading the league in defensive box plus minus before they stupidly replaced him with Drummond, and he still spaces the floor
I don’t know how this year’s Laker team is better than last years Laker team. I guess Westbrook got better at the end of the season but Lonnie Walker is a huge downgrade from Malik Monk.
It’s better if Bron and AD stay healthy, if they don’t then it really doesn’t matter who else is on the team.
Walker can play d which monk wasn’t the best at and monk wasn’t monk before the lakers . Walker had similar numbers that monk had before became a laker
Love Bryant’s game, Can’t wait to see a Bryant Lakers jersey!
worst rim protecter in Washington
If Thomas Bryant coming off an acl injury is one of the keys to your season…
If Thomas Bryant HEALTHY is one of the keys to your season….