In need of frontcourt depth, the Los Angeles Lakers brought in Christian Koloko on a two-way contract just before the start of training camp.
Koloko is a former second-round pick that showed some promise with the Toronto Raptors, although he was forced out of the league last year due to a serious blood clot issue.
While Koloko was feeling healthy when the Lakers signed him, he needed to get cleared by the NBA’s Fitness-to-Play panel in order to be able to step on the floor again.
It took a little longer than expected for that to happen, but Koloko has now been cleared and will spend time with the South Bay Lakers in the G League in order to get back in game shape, per Jovan Buha of The Athletic:
JJ Redick said Christian Koloko will begin his return-to-play process with the South Bay Lakers. He did not provide a timetable.
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) October 30, 2024
Having a player like Koloko on a two-way contract could be big for a Lakers team that lacks frontcourt depth.
In 58 career NBA games, Koloko has averaged 3.1 points and 2.9 rebounds in a limited 13.8 minutes per game. While those numbers aren’t big, the Lakers getting him on a two-way contract is good value as long as he is healthy and will be able to contribute sometime down the road.
Rob Pelinka: Christian Koloko can provide center depth for Lakers
Shortly after the Lakers signed Christian Koloko, general manager Rob Pelinka spoke on what he would provide for the team.
“In terms of our center depth, I think in addition to Jackson Hayes, Christian Wood, we do have two guys on two-way that play the center position in Colin Castleton and we signed Christian Koloko. We have optimism,” Pelinka said.
“We did a deep dive with our medical staff, again Dr. Vigil, Dr. Jones, Dr. Sims, and have a lot of optimism and hope he’s still with the panel. And part of that is just logistics that have to happen, but we think that’ll happen sooner than later and whatever the decision of the league is, we’ll respect. But again, we have a lot of optimism and if he’s cleared, 7-foot-5 wingspan, 7-foot-1 [height], I think we saw a lot of promise in him when we scouted him when he was at Arizona, was almost a first round pick. So, to get a player like that that we can bring along and develop and may even impact games this year when he gets cleared is something we’re really excited about.”
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