The Los Angeles Lakers made a move to reinforce their depth at point guard, calling up two-way guard Gary Payton II from the South Bay Lakers of the NBA G League to supplement their bench on their current road trip.
Payton is averaging 2.5 points and one assists in 9.3 minutes per game over four appearances with Los Angeles this season. The G League has been a different story for the second-year pro, however.
There, Payton is averaging 17.3 points on 46.6 percent shooting while dishing 5.5 assists and snatching 6.9 rebounds in 29 minutes per game over 12 games for South Bay.
With Lonzo Ball still on a minutes restriction, Payton could get an opportunity for some playing time on the team’s current road trip. Los Angeles will take on the Miami Heat on Thursday before heading to San Antonio to face the Spurs on Saturday night.
Although, since the Lakers don’t have back-to-backs for Ball to sit out, it’s plausible Payton might not see any time on the floor with the team.
Payton is one of the Lakers’ two two-way contract players, along with Alex Caruso, meaning he can spend up to 45 days called up on the parent team’s roster before they must to decide whether to let him walk or sign him to an NBA deal for the remainder of the season.
Payton probably won’t come close to reaching that limit, however, given that the Lakers’ signed him midseason after waiving Vander Blue, who was previously the team’s other two-way contract player alongside Caruso.