The start of the NBA season is just a couple of weeks away which means the Los Angeles Lakers must start trimming down their roster to the league-maximum of 15 players.
The team has already made its first moves, waiving Zach Auguste, Travis Wear, and Julian Jacobs from the training camp roster according to Lakers Nation reporter Serena Winters:
The Lakers make their first set of cuts, waive Zach Auguste, Julian Jacobs & Travis Wear.
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) October 12, 2016
None of these moves are surprising as all were long shots to make the roster. Wear and Jacobs each briefly appeared in two games this preseason with neither really standing out too much. Auguste, who also played on the Lakers Summer League team, never saw the floor in the preseason.
While both Jacobs and Wear were non-guaranteed contracts, Auguste had a minor partial guarantee on his deal which led many to believe that he could wind up on the Lakers’ D-League affiliate, the D-Fenders when he first signed his deal. Time will tell if that ultimately turns out to be the case.
With those three off the roster, the Lakers are now down to 17 players and will have to get rid of two more before the start of the season. The two non-guaranteed players remaining are veterans Metta World Peace and Thomas Robinson.
World Peace has only appeared in one game so far, starting in place of the injured Luol Deng. He is well known throughout the Lakers franchise, however, and his leadership and mentor helped earn him a spot on last year’s roster in this same situation.
Robinson has been pretty solid in his preseason appearances so far, showing off his athleticism, rebounding, and overall activity. For both Robinson and World Peace, however, they will have to beat out players who have at least a partial guarantee on their deals.
Yi Jianlian, who has a partially guaranteed contract would be the most likely candidate to be released in favor of one of them. Some have also suggested that the Lakers could let go of former second-round pick Anthony Brown who has a fully-guaranteed deal, but for less than $1 million.