Lakers Waive Thomas Bryant Before Contract Becomes Fully Guaranteed For 2018-19 NBA Season

Dan Duangdao
2 Min Read
Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

The Los Angeles Lakers have waived Thomas Bryant after originally selecting him with the No. 42 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, the team announced.

Appearing in just 15 games during the 2017-18 NBA season, Bryant averaged 1.5 points and 1.1 rebounds in 4.8 minutes per game.

However, Bryant spent the majority of his rookie season with the team’s G League affiliate, South Bay Lakers. He averaged 19.7 points and 7.4 rebounds in 37 games en route to receiving 2017-18 NBA G League All-League First Team honors.

After recently waiving Tyler Ennis and now Bryant, the Lakers reportedly will not waive Ivica Zubac, whose $1.5 million contract will become guaranteed for the 2018-19 season.

In pursuit of two max-contract free agents like LeBron James and Paul George, the Lakers are slowly clearing cap space. While it appears George could potentially re-sign on a short-term deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Lakers appears to be the favorites to sign James if he ultimately leaves the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Regardless of what happens, president of basketball operations Magic Johnson and general manager Rob Pelinka have established a two-year window for free agency. However, there is an opportunity to form a big three in Los Angeles with James, George, and Kawhi Leonard.

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Dan Duangdao was the managing editor at Lakers Nation (2013-16, 2018-20). He is currently the founder at LA Sports Media, Lake Show, Raiders Nation, Rams Nation, Kings Nation, Galaxy Nation, and MMA Rumors. Born and raised in Southern California and a lifelong Los Angeles sports and mixed martial arts fan, his first NBA game was Kobe Bryant and the Lakers against the Golden State Warriors with Michael Jordan in attendance during the 1998-99 NBA season. He was previously a contributor at HOOPSWORLD (now Basketball Insiders) and an NBA editor at ClutchPoints. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: @DanDuangdao.