The Los Angeles Lakers announced they signed former Chicago Bulls guard Troy Brown Jr. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it is reported to be for the one-year veteran minimum.
Brown spent the 2021-22 season with the Bulls after being dealt in a three-team trade with the Washington Wizards and Boston Celtics the previous season. Brown appeared in 66 games for the Bulls during the 2021-22 campaign, starting seven of them. He also saw minimal time in three games during Chicago’s first round matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2022 NBA playoffs.
Standing at 6’6″ with a 6’10” wingspan, Brown projects as a switchable wing defender, a valuable commodity for a Laker roster that is currently short on that type of player. Although Brown has yet to find his stride in the NBA, he is a worthwhile gamble for Los Angeles who limited means of adding free agents to the roster. At 22 years old, it is reasonable to think the forward has upside left and perhaps a change of scenery can bring that out.
Brown certainly has the pedigree to be a useful player as he was selected 15th overall in the 2018 NBA Draft. In four NBA seasons, he has averaged 6.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and .7 steals in just under 19 minutes per game. Also, he managed to convert on 35.3 percent of his 3-point attempts, albeit on only two attempts a game.
Getting younger was a priority for Rob Pelinka and Darvin Ham, so the interest in Brown makes total sense for a team that was clearly too old to compete last season. It remains to be seen how the rest of the roster shakes out and how big of a role Brown ends up getting, but it is low-risk move that has the potential to help propel the Lakers forward during the 2022-23 season.
Lakers confident they can add shooting via trade
Even though Brown has some outside shooting upside, the Lakers will need to add more of it if they hope to compete with the best teams in the league. However, there is reportedly some internal confidence they can add shooting via trade with their eyes set on Kyrie Irving as their No. 1 target.
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