The Los Angeles Lakers entered the 2023-24 season hopeful that their frontcourt rotation would be able to hold up enough to give Anthony Davis a break from having to play center for so many minutes, but unfortunately their free agent moves didn’t pan out.
The Lakers signed Christian Wood and Jaxson Hayes to minimum deals last summer, hoping to address their needs for a stretch five and a rim-running, lob threat. In theory, they did that with Wood and Hayes though both big men struggled to find any consistency and playing time under former head coach Darvin Ham.
To make matters worse, Los Angeles got hit hard with injuries to their role players throughout the regular season. Wood got the worst of it as he suffered a knee injury during the All-Star break that forced him to miss multiple months. Even two-way contract rookie Colin Castleton was unable to fill in after he fractured his wrist and was forced to miss time.
Sensing a need to shore up their center depth, the Lakers went out and signed Harry Giles III to a two-way contract late in the year. Giles started the 2023-24 season with the Brooklyn Nets and had a few moments on the court before he was waived. With him on the market and without many other options, Los Angeles gambled on the former first-round pick.
The expectations for Giles were low given that the Lakers were in the midst of a playoff push and simply needed bodies to round out their roster. Giles played sparingly down the stretch, appearing in blowout situations and not getting much of a shot to show what he could do.
His time with the team was short-lived, though he at least got to don the purple and gold and play for one of the league’s most historic franchises.
2023-24 Highlight
There weren’t many opportunities for Giles to prove himself on the court as he only appeared in seven games for the Lakers. He played his first game against the Oklahoma City Thunder just a couple of days after signing with the team, missing his only field goal attempt.
In fact, Giles didn’t score in six out of seven of the games he played though he did manage to get a bucket in a blowout win against the Atlanta Hawks.
2024-25 Outlook
With the Lakers’ two-way contracts already occupied by other players, it seems like Giles will need to scour around the league for his next NBA opportunity.
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