Lakers Make SNEAKY Good Signing...

The Lakers just made a sneaky good signing as they are bringing back a familiar face to the organization. He has a golden opportunity to go out there, prove himself to be a valuable player for the team this upcoming season. And welcome to Lakers Digest, my name is Hunter Pitkoff, where we cover everything surrounding your Los Angeles Lakers, whether it be different rumors, reports, breaking news, as well as different trades and signings. This is the place to be for your purple and gold. Just hit the subscribe button so you don't miss a thing here on this channel. Before we get into the rest of the video, this one is brought to you by Calsi. And on Calsi, you're trading directly against other users and not the house like traditional sports books. In other words, you're buying yes or no contracts on the outcome of events. It can be across sports, politics, and hell, even the weather. But focusing on your Lakers here, a new market that has just emerged here on Calsi's. Who is going to be the next governor before the start of the new year? And it's not agreed upon. It's not that the Lakers are selling again, hopefully not, but it's who do you think it's going to be? And right now, Josh Kushner has the highest percentages to be that is the NBA Board of Governors going to officially make this sale before the start of the new year. That's pretty much if you think that is the case, you've gone Calsi right now and put some money down on it. Put down $100, for example, you can get a max payout of over $154. So if you're interested in trying out Calsi, it is super simple. This is all you have to do. Just use the link down below in our description or in the pinned comment and use that promo code right there on your screen, DigestNBA to get $25 added to your account instantly. So focusing here on this move, you're all probably wondering, what is this move? It wasn't like we had some blockbuster move or anything like that, but one that's pretty interesting and definitely rewarding some good work out there on the basketball court is the up the ante for Anton and that is going to be Anton Watson. If you're watching the NBA Summer League like we were here, this summer is a fun Lakers Summer League. Definitely a lot more fun than I anticipated, especially after that first game down there in the California Classic. Anton Watson, who had a game winner against the Miami Heat there in San Francisco. He was a nice piece that they had there. A guy who's been a bit of a journeyman so far in the NBA and the Lakers are going to be giving him yet another opportunity here as we had just found out. Posted here by the NBA that they had signed former Anton Watson, who had in 50 games for the South Bay Lakers, now the Coachella Valley Lakers, the G League team, averaged 11 points per game, about 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and a steal and a half in 27-ish minutes per game. Also adding here as well, Anton Watson, somebody who was drafted 54th overall by the Boston Celtics in the 2024 NBA Draft and he had played 5 seasons there at Gonzaga because nowadays everybody just plays as many games as they want to in the NBA and in college basketball I should say and earned all WCC First Team All-Honors there as a senior. About time. Good to see that he finally got some run there. And here as well, the Lakers, they had announced they signed him. The deal was not disclosed just yet, but it is assumed to be an Exhibit 10 contract and this will allow Watson to spend training camp and the preseason with the Lakers and then have his contract transferred over to the Coachella Valley Lakers in the G League if he does not make the parent squad or land elsewhere. So definitely somebody that the Lakers wanted to keep around. This is a very interesting player. He's a bit undersized for a big man, so he's kind of in that ironically Drew Timmy-ish kind of role that the Lakers had another big man from Gonzaga where he's got nice touch, he finishes with both hands, a little bit more athletic than he appears, especially vertically. And someone I can stress before was three-point shooting and if the Lakers want to play some small ball, perhaps like someone like Sandro Mukaselli, knock on wood, goes down with the injury, they want to get a guy who can play some small ball far for you, I think Anton Watson could potentially fit there as well as maybe some unique matchups. But again, Anton Watson still has a long road to go as he has to, first off, he'd have to probably beat somebody out there for a spot for the two-way players and then make the roster. But you know, this is actually going to bring us to our next point here. Now that we're talking about it, let's talk about it. The roster cutdown that the Lakers inevitably do have to make because right now, when you look at the Lakers roster, they have 16 full-time players and they can only have 15 by the start of the regular season. So by default, somebody does have to go and for a second here, as you know, some new graphics are working through right now. I'm going to pull up the depth chart here for the Lakers and what it's currently looking like. Here is a blown-up view of it. And so, this is just the full-time players that are on here though. And so, you also have to consider Arthur Columa is one of them, a.k.a. O'Karakay and Chris Mannion. So, Anton Watson would have to beat out one of them. And so, Chris Mannion, he's been a two-way player for the Lakers last season and this season, and to me, out of all three of those guys that they currently have, maybe he's the most NBA-experienced and ready. Arthur Columa was a standout for the Lakers, someone who they kept around in the G League the year before, earned his keep, and showed that he can, you know, fall out a little bit and maybe that's someone they feel comfortable putting in the game. And a.k.a. O'Karakay, unlike Mannion and unlike Columa, O'Karakay just got out of college, played at Vanderbilt, and this is somebody who is a very smart player, someone who's got big size and can shoot the three ball. So, it would be an uphill battle for Anton Watson to beat any of those guys out. O'Karakay would most likely be the guy to do it, but all three of those guys I mentioned, what they do well is they have three in the upside in ability, whereas Anton Watson, again, he's more of like that tweener, so maybe this is someone they would be interested in. But they're going to give him an opportunity and a chance and we will see him play in the preseason, so that's nice that you're going to have a chance to see Watson back out there earning his keep. But that does bring us to our next point here, is the Lakers have to make a decision here. Someone is going to have to get cut, and this is the top 15 players on the roster. The one who's not on here is Brownie James, so someone is not going to make the team, right? Whether it's a trade, they go two for one, and then that's the easiest way maybe to do it, right? You don't have to cut anybody, or someone's going to have to get cut. So, looking at the Lakers here right now, obviously, that starting five, they're not getting cut. They're not going anywhere. Colin Sexton just signed here. He's not going anywhere. Sandro Moukosvili, he's not going anywhere. He just signed. Zyrer Williams just signed. T. Stiebel just signed. So, I don't think any of those guys are going anywhere. Adithiro, he's not going anywhere. For depth purposes, I don't think it's Kavon Looney, Cameron Carr, not him, and I don't think it's Jayden Hardy. So, I think the three players it's going to come down to for the final two spots are Jared Vanderbilt, Dalton Connect, and Bronny James. Now, the Lakers did guarantee Dalton Connect and Bronny James' contracts, so that is worth noting. On top of that as well, Jared Vanderbilt, he's on the biggest contract, so if they do cut him, if they waive and stretch him, that salary is really going to be on the books. So, they would have to make a decision there what is best for the roster build. So, out of those three players, JJ showed that Bronny James is the one he turns to and feels the most confident in, so take that for what it's worth, while Bronny would also be the cheapest player. Dalton Connect was a former first-round pick of the Lakers, and perhaps they still believe there's some upside there, and maybe they don't want to give up on him quite just yet. And Jared Vanderbilt, he's the one with the most expensive contract and the one with the most playoff experience and just, you know, NBA career experience, so it would definitely be not the easiest decision in the world. There would be some kickback, but again, the Lakers do not make any presiding moves. Someone's going to have to go there, and I'm curious to see who they ultimately decide and who they land on, but to keep up with everything surrounding your Lakers, guys, whether it be different rumors, reports, breaking news, as well as different trades and signings, this is the place to be for your purple and gold again. Lakers basketball, we're now just a couple weeks away from seeing them back out there on the basketball court in preseason, and ultimately a few weeks after that, we'll see them in the regular season, so keep up with all that. Hit the subscribe button so you don't miss a thing here on Lakers Digest.