The Los Angeles Lakers didn’t make many moves this offseason, hoping the addition of new head coach JJ Redick would vault them back into championship contention.
The one move they did make though was bringing in center Christian Koloko, formerly of the Toronto Raptors, on a two-way contract.
Koloko is a former second round pick of the Raptors in 2022 out of Arizona. He was waived by them in Jan. 2024 though after being put into NBA’s Fitness-to-Play panel due to a career-threatening blood clot issue.
In order for Koloko to be able to suit up again, he needed to be cleared by the panel, which the Lakers were optimistic would take place.
While it took a little longer than expected, it appears Koloko has finally been cleared for a return, per Shams Charania of ESPN:
Lakers 7-footer Christian Koloko has been medically cleared by the NBA’s fitness-to-play panel, sources tell ESPN.
Koloko will begin practicing with the Lakers this week and ramp up to play for first time since April 2023 and a blood clot issue that threatened his career. pic.twitter.com/dS7QrlrptC
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 29, 2024
Promising news for the Lakers’ development program, which now adds Koloko to recent successes in Austin Reaves and Dalton Knecht. Lakers have been intrigued with Koloko, who is expected to provide another center to play alongside Anthony Davis in the frontcourt. https://t.co/Sb7qbwcp88
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 29, 2024
Having a player like Koloko on a two-way contract will be a huge benefit for the Lakers, especially considering their lack of depth in the frontcourt.
In 58 career NBA games, Koloko has averaged 3.1 points and 2.9 rebounds in a limited 13.8 minutes per game. He had a lot of promise coming out of Arizona though so the Lakers will look to tap into that now that he is officially cleared for a return.
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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