The Los Angeles Lakers secured their first win of the 2024 preseason by defeating the Milwaukee Bucks in dramatic fashion. Down 15 with 8:38 to go in the fourth quarter, the Lakers scored 20 unanswered points in less than four minutes to take a lead that they would not relinquish, led by Exhibit 10 player Quincy Olivari.
Olivari had nine of the Lakers’ 20 points during the run and scored 11 points in the final quarter of the win. While the Bucks weren’t playing with any of their major pieces, it’s still an impressive showing for the undrafted rookie out of Xavier.
The young guard spoke about the comeback effort and what was going through his mind as he was leading it, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“Just keep going. Just keep going. I think I hold my head high on the fact that I’m an energy guy and I like to make sure that every time I’m in, I give the most positive energy I can and if I’ve been sitting the whole game, that means I should be the most rested. So just pick up full and have good energy and next thing you know the whole bench is up and I really was focused on just giving this first win for Coach Redick because we we had been pretty close and then when we got to like the third quarter and the fourth quarter in the previous two games, it kind of dwindled away, so I just wanted to get everything I could to put us in the best position to win.”
Olivari could have gone to several other teams on a similar deal, but opted to go with the Lakers because he felt a very mutual love from L.A.’s side, which certainly helped lead to Thursday’s big moment:
“That was an easy decision because my mom’s mantra for me was always go where you’re loved, now where you want to be. And after the first night of the draft, Coach Mazzella, the GM of the South Bay Lakers, he called my agent and said that he wanted me immediately and out of the other 10 teams that I had on the list that I worked out for, that was the first team to call us without us reaching out to them. So it was a fairly easy decision to just go there because they wanted me so that already told me they were willing to work with me through my mistakes. (They called me) after the first night so even in the morning of the second round, I kind of knew where I was gonna go.”
Olivari is likely to spend the majority of the season in the G League with the South Bay Lakers, but a moment like this shows that he could be someone to watch moving forward. Preseason is not just about getting the active roster ready for the season, but also seeing what some of the Exhibit 10 and two-way players can do in a low-stakes NBA contest.
Lakers searching for center on trade market
Arguably the biggest weakness on the Lakers’ roster going into the 2024-25 season is the center position.
They of course still have Anthony Davis, but the last two postseason losses to Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets proved that isn’t enough in certain matchups.
The Lakers did not make any moves this offseason to address the center position as both Jaxson Hayes and Christian Wood picked up their player options. They brought in Christian Koloko on a two-way contract, but he has still not been cleared by the league to play after dealing with a serious blood clot issue.
With that being the case, the Lakers have looked to the trade market for center upgrades and are continuing to do so leading up to Opening Night.
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