NBA Free Agency Rumors: Wizards Claim Former Lakers Center Thomas Bryant Off Waivers

Dan Duangdao
2 Min Read
Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

Before the start of free agency, the Los Angeles Lakers waived Thomas Bryant, who was the team’s No. 42 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft.

GET YOUR ‘LABRON’ SHIRT NOW!

In an effort to create additional cap space, Bryant was waived before his contract became fully guaranteed for the 2018-19 NBA season.

Although the 20-year-old only appeared in 15 games, he spent most of his rookie season with the team’s G League affiliate, South Bay Lakers. In 37 games, he averaged 19.7 points and 7.4 rebounds en route to receiving 2017-18 NBA G League All-League First Team honors.

According to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports, the Washington Wizards have claimed Bryant off waivers after recently trading Marcin Gortat to the Los Angeles Clippers:

While it was a difficult decision to waive last year’s second round draft pick, it ultimately came down to him or Ivica Zubac, the team’s No. 32 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft.

Since free agency has started, the Lakers have not struck out like they did in the past five seasons. With LeBron James signing a four-year, $154 million deal, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope re-signed as Lance Stephenson and JaVale McGee joined them in Los Angeles.

Medium Large is looking to add motivated individuals with big dreams and a big appetite for success to our LakersNation.com direct sales team based in Los Angeles or Orange County. If you love sports, know digital sales, and can throw your weight behind an aggressive commission based opportunity than we would love to talk to you. Please apply at: http://mediumlarge.la/?jobs=1576. If you meet our criteria we will be in touch!

Follow:
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.