The Los Angeles Lakers have been good at identifying diamonds in the rough over the last few years, turning second-round picks or undrafted players like Talen Horton-Tucker and Alex Caruso into quality role players.
Even though the Lakers didn’t wind up picking anyone in the 2021 NBA Draft, they are hoping to find some more under-the-radar players this season.
They have already signed both Austin Reaves and Joel Ayayi to two-way contracts, so they will be going back and forth between the parent team and G League a lot this season.
The Lakers are signed a pair of their Summer League players in Mac McClung and Chaundee Brown to Exhibit 10 contracts, giving them a chance to come in and compete for a roster spot during training camp before ultimately likely joining the G League South Bay Lakers as well.
L.A. still has one more Exhibit 10 deal they can hand out before training camp, and it appears they have identified who they want to give it to, via Jovan Buha of The Athletic:
Cam Oliver is signing an Exhibit 10 deal with the Lakers, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA.
The 25-year-old wing played four games with the Houston Rockets last season. He went undrafted in 2017.
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) September 16, 2021
As Buha alluded to, Cam Oliver went undrafted out of Nevada in 2017 and his only NBA experience is four games with the Houston Rockets last season, averaging 10.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 21.8 minutes per game.
Oliver began his professional career playing with a few different G League franchises before going over to Australia in 2019. Oliver played with the Cairns Taipans in Australia for the 2019–20 NBL season, being named to the All-NBL Second Team after averaging 17 points, 9.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game.
He then signed a two-year extension with the Taipans but returned home a few months later due to personal reasons and was later released.
Oliver most recently played for the Golden State Warriors in the Las Vegas Summer League this year, and the 25-year-old averaged 7.2 points and 6.0 rebounds in five games.
The Lakers can still use one more bigger wing player, which Oliver is. They have a couple of roster spots available on the parent team, although Oliver would really have to impress in training camp to earn one of those spots, even if he could fill the role they need.
Lakers worked out Faried
One other player the Lakers recently worked out is veteran big man Kenneth Faried. It remains to be seen if he has anything left and the workout will lead to a signing, but one thing that is clear is that the Lakers are doing their due diligence before filling out the roster.
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