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AK Okereke

Lakers Notes: Kuminga, Thybulle, Kaluma, Assistant GM Opening

By | at July 20, 2026 11:00 am

Momentum has “stalled” on the Lakers‘ pursuit of free agent forward Jonathan Kuminga, according to Dan Woike of The Athletic. Rumors connecting Kuminga to Los Angeles have been ongoing since late June, but Woike hears that the Lakers and Hawks are still far apart on terms of a potential deal and L.A. isn’t “overly motivated” to include significant draft assets in any of its sign-and-trade offers.

However, Woike cautions that a potential Kuminga deal isn’t dead because it’s still the “biggest upside play” remaining for the Lakers’ offseason. Cleveland also reportedly has interest in Kuminga, but Woike can envision the Lakers reemerging as a possibility if the market remains slow.

Kuminga became a free agent when Atlanta declined its $24.3MM team option for next season. No team has enough remaining cap space to make the kind of offer that Kuminga is seeking, so he’ll have to rely on a sign-and-trade. It’s not clear how much interest the Hawks have in re-signing him, especially after adding forward Luguentz Dort in a three-team trade on Sunday.

There’s more on the Lakers:

  • Woike confirms a recent report from The Stein Line that L.A. has interest in free agent wing Matisse Thybulle. He notes that injuries are the main concern with Thybulle, who played just 45 games over the past two years, but adds that he was healthy at the end of last season and could provide a low-cost three-and-D option. The team is also hoping to add another big man, team sources tell Woike.
  • The Lakers may have to move quickly to sign Arthur Kaluma to a two-way contract before another team does, Woike adds. The 6’7″ forward, who played for the team’s G League affiliate last season, was one of the top players in Summer League, averaging 18.6 PPG while shooting 60.9% from the floor and 50% from beyond the arc. Woike notes that current two-way players Chris Mañon, AK Okereke and Peter Suder might be expendable, although Okereke impressed the coaching staff with his defense and shooting.
  • Scouts in Las Vegas were wondering when president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka plans to name his second assistant general manager, per Woike. Rohan Ramadas was hired in May to run the team’s analytics department, and Pelinka said after the season ended that he also wants someone to oversee player development and scouting. The Lakers began conducting interviews for the position during the season, and league sources tell Woike that there’s external confusion about the process. He adds that Minnesota’s Steve Senior and Philadelphia’s Prosper Karangwa are believed to have turned down offers from L.A. to remain with their current teams.
0 comments Atlanta Hawks Los Angeles Lakers

Lakers Sign AK Okereke To Two-Way Contract

By | at June 24, 2026 10:00 pm

July 4: The Lakers have officially signed Okereke to a two-way deal, according to the NBA’s transaction log.

June 24: Rookie free agent forward AK Okereke has agreed to a two-way contract with the Lakers, sources tell ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).

The 6’7″ senior transferred to Vanderbilt last summer after spending three years at Cornell. He appeared in 36 games for the Commodores, averaging 9.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 26.2 minutes per night while shooting 48.1% from the field and 40% from beyond the arc.

According to Aria Gerson of The Tennessean (subscription required), Okereke has a skill set similar to Chris Manon, another Vanderbilt product who played nine games for the Lakers this season on a two-way deal. Okereke’s versatility and outside shooting touch may help him earn a spot on an NBA roster.

Okereke, who didn’t appear in ESPN’s final rankings of the top 100 draft-eligible prospects, tested the draft waters last year before returning to college. He reportedly worked out for the Warriors and Nets as well as the Lakers during the pre-draft process this spring.

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Pre-Draft Workouts: Grizzlies, Warriors, Pistons, Keita

By | at June 1, 2026 7:52 pm

Arizona forward Koa Peat was among the prospects who worked out for the Grizzlies on Monday, league sources tell Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal (Twitter link).

Peat is a projected first-round pick, coming in at No. 25 on the latest big board from Jeremy Woo of ESPN and No. 18 on the big board of Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report, though his stock has reportedly been falling due to concerns about his shooting.

The 19-year-old helped the Wildcats go 36-3 in 2025/26, winning the Big 12 tournament and advancing to the Final Four of the NCAA tournament before falling to eventual champion Michigan.

Malik Dia (Ole Miss), Jestin Porter (Clemson) and Latrell Wrightsell (Alabama) were also part of Monday’s workout, according to Cole. Memphis controls the third, 16th and 32nd picks in the 2026 draft.

Here are details on a few more pre-draft workouts from around the NBA:

  • The Warriors are hosting six prospects — Obi Agbim of Baylor, Tucker DeVries of Indiana, Tamin Lipsey of Iowa State, AK Okereke of Vanderbilt, Peter Suder of Miami (Ohio) and Lamar Wilkerson of Indiana — for a workout on Monday, the team announced (via Twitter). Lipsey (No. 69) is the highest-ranked player of the six on ESPN’s board. Golden State holds the 11th and 54th picks in June’s draft.
  • The Pistons held a pre-draft workout on Monday that included Wisconsin’s Nick Boyd, George Washington’s Rafael Castro, Kansas State’s Nate Johnson and Florida’s Xaivian Lee, reports Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press (Twitter link). Of the four, Castro is narrowly considered the best prospect (No. 73) by ESPN, with Boyd ranking just behind at 77th. Detroit has one pick — 21st overall — in the upcoming draft.
  • Former BYU big man Keba Keita isn’t among ESPN’s top 100 prospects or Bleacher Report’s top 75, but he’s drawing a good deal of interest in the pre-draft process. Keita recently auditioned for the Jazz and has roughly 12 other workouts on tap, according to Tony Jones of The Athletic (Twitter link), who says NBA clubs are “intrigued” by the Malian center’s “length and athleticism.” Utah only controls the second overall pick, but Keita could be a two-way or Exhibit 10 candidate if he goes undrafted.
8 comments 2026 NBA Draft Detroit Pistons Golden State Warriors Memphis Grizzlies Utah Jazz

Mgbako, Conerway, Okereke Pulling Out Of NBA Draft

By | at May 27, 2025 10:03 am

Forward Mackenzie Mgbako has opted to withdraw his name from the 2025 NBA draft, he tells Jonathan Givony of ESPN. According to Givony, Mgbako will be transferring from Indiana to Texas A&M for his junior year.

“I decided to withdraw to focus on becoming a lock first-round pick next year,” Mgbako said. “I am committed to making the improvements to my game based upon feedback from NBA teams.”

Mgbako spent his first two college seasons with the Hoosiers, averaging 12.2 points per game as both a freshman and a sophomore. He played slightly fewer minutes in his second year (25.2 MPG) than in his first (27.1 MPG), but increased his rebounds per game from 4.1 to 4.6 and bumped his shooting percentage from 39.5% to 43.7%.

A former top-10 high school recruit and McDonald’s All-American, Mgbako was projected as the No. 58 overall pick in ESPN’s latest mock draft last Monday. He had a solid pre-draft process, earning an invitation to the draft combine after leading the G League Elite Camp in scoring, but will head back to school and look to further improve his draft stock over the course of the 2025/26 season.

We have updates on a couple more prospects pulling out of the NBA draft:

  • Senior guard Tayton Conerway, who has one year of NCAA eligibility remaining, will take advantage of that fact by withdrawing from the draft and playing a final college season, per Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports (Twitter link). The reigning Sun Belt Player of the Year is transferring to Indiana after averaging 14.2 points, 4.8 assists, 4.6 rebounds, and a conference-high 2.9 steals per game for Troy last season.
  • After testing the draft waters this spring, forward AK Okereke will remove his name from the draft pool and transfer from Cornell to Vanderbilt, he tells Jon Chepkevich of DraftExpress (Twitter link). Okereke had a solid junior season in 2024/25, putting up 13.9 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game while making 59.5% of his field goal attempts.
  • We’re tracking all the draft decisions made by early entrants right here.
0 comments 2025 NBA Draft

NBA Announces Initial Early Entrant List For 2025 Draft

By | at April 29, 2025 10:40 am

The NBA has officially released the initial list of early entrants for the 2025 NBA draft, announcing in a press release (Twitter link) that 106 players have filed as early entry candidates. Of those prospects, 73 are from colleges, 30 had been playing for teams internationally, and three were playing non-college ball stateside (in the G League).

While that early entrant total exceeds the number of players who will be selected in this year’s draft (59), it’s down significantly from the figures we’ve seen in recent years. A record 353 early entrants initially declared for the draft in 2021, but that number dropped to 283 in 2022, 242 in 2023, and 201 a year ago.

The NCAA’s NIL policy, which allows college athletes to be paid based on their name, image, and likeness, has been a major factor in that downward trend — fewer prospects feel the need to go pro as soon as possible when they’re earning big money at the college level.

The huge dip this year can also be attributed in large part to the fact that most college seniors are now automatically draft-eligible. In recent years, most fourth-year seniors faced an “early entrant” decision because they were granted an extra year of NCAA eligibility due to COVID-19 and didn’t have the 2020/21 season count toward their typical limit.

This year’s total of 106 early entrants figures to decline significantly by May 28 and again by June 15, the two deadlines for players to withdraw their names from the draft pool. The leftover early entrants will join the college seniors with no remaining eligibility and other automatically eligible players in this year’s draft pool.

Our tracker of early entrants for the 2025 draft is fully up to date and can be found right here.

Here are the changes we made to our tracker today:

Newly added players

College players:

These players either didn’t publicly announce that they were entering the draft or we simply missed it when they did.

International players:

These players weren’t previously mentioned on our list of international early entrants. The country listed here indicates where they last played, not necessarily where they were born.

Players removed

Despite reports or announcements that the players below would declare for the draft, they didn’t show up on the NBA’s official list.

That could mean a number of things — they may have decided against entering the draft; they may have entered the draft, then withdrawn; they may have had no NCAA eligibility remaining, making them automatically draft-eligible; they may have incorrectly filed their paperwork; or the NBA may have accidentally omitted some names.

Because they’re absent from the NBA’s official list, we’ve removed the following names from our own early entrant list.

Note: Some of these players may also be transferring to new schools.

According to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony (Twitter link), two-time national champion Alex Karaban of UConn also initially filed paperwork to test the draft waters, but withdrew from the pool before the NBA put out today’s early entrant list. He’ll return to the Huskies for his senior season.

5 comments 2025 NBA Draft Newsstand