After spending the season in the D-League with the Los Angeles Lakers affiliate, the Los Angeles D-Fenders, Vander Blue was called up and appeared in the final two Laker games.
Although his time with extremely short, Blue talked about the opportunity to play in the NBA during his exit interview Friday. He also expressed head coach Byron Scott and general manager’s desire for him to play for the Lakers during summer league via Mark Medina of the L.A. Daily News:
Vander Blue said Byron and Mitch are open for him to play on Summer League team
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) April 16, 2015
Blue started in Wednesday’s season finale and played the entire game since the team had no backup guards available on the bench. He nearly got a triple-double with 15 points, eight assists, and seven rebounds.
While in the D-League, Blue was among the league’s top scorers with a 23.3 points per game average. Since Blue is just 22 years old, there is plenty room for the former Marquette product to grow and improve his game.
If he were to join the Lakers’ summer league team, he will play alongside Jordan Clarkson and Julius Randle as the youngsters continue their developments. An impressive showing could lead to a training camp invite with an opportunity to make next season’s roster.
The Lakers enter the summer continuing their rebuild with a protected top-five draft pick and plenty of cap space available. There figures to plenty of turnover with most the team hitting free agency or on non-guaranteed contracts.
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