With NBA training camp around the corner, here are 3 Los Angeles Lakers who won’t be on the roster by the end of the season.
Even though NBA training camp doesn’t start until Sept. 28, speculative roster cuts are already in the mix, with many in NBA world discussing who will be playing wearing the purple and gold come October.
Based in Los Angeles, it only makes sense that the Lakers boast one of the most star-studded casts in the NBA. The Lakers’ Fab Five is expected to be LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Russell Westbrook, Dwight Howard and Talen Horton-Tucker, but the roster depth behind them is still up for debate.
That being said, there are a few restricted free agents that make for easy cuts ahead of the season premiere versus the Golden State Warriors.
Here are three players that the Lakers could do without in the 2021 season.
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – APRIL 02: Joel Ayayi #11 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs practices ahead of the Final Four Semifinal at Lucas Oil Stadium on April 02, 2021 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Joel Ayayi
A Beninese-French basketball prodigy, Ayayi enters 2021 a highly-touted shooting guard from Gonzaga University. Trained at the elite INSEP sports institute in Paris, France, Ayayi was a four-star recruit fielding offers from Baylor, Georgia and Gonzaga.
Ayayi made a play for the NBA in 2020, but failed to snag a contract and went back to play at Gonzaga his junior year. He balled out last season, scoring the first triple-double in school history and was named to First Team All-West Coast Conference.
Passed up in the draft again, Ayayi may have caught a break with a two-way contract with the Lakers, but it’s more likely that he will start off his career focusing on the South Bay Lakers rather than their major league counterpart. If he doesn’t start this year, Ayayi could be a name that pops up in Lakers conversations in the very near future.