The Los Angeles Lakers announced they have signed guard Kobe Bufkin to an NBA contract. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it is reported to be a two-year minimum contract with a team option in 2026-27.
This is well-deserved for Bufkin as he has been tearing it up with the Lakers’ G League affiliate South Bay Lakers this season. The guard is averaging 26.7 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists while shooting 51.3% from the field and 43.1% from 3-point range in 21 games.
Originally drafted 15h overall by the Atlanta Hawks in 2023 out of Michigan, Bufkin only played in 27 games in his first two NBA seasons. He was traded to the Brooklyn Nets this past offseason and then waived, eventually landing with South Bay.
Bufkin has worked extremely hard to get his career back on track and has done exactly that. He signed 10-day contracts this season with both the Memphis Grizzlies and Lakers, and now he lands a deal for at least the remainder of this season.
The Lakers have been looking for young 3-and-D players for a while now and Bufkin fits that billing. The 22-year-old will get an opportunity to impress for the rest of this season, and then L.A. will decide if it wants to pick up his team option to keep him on the roster for 2026-27 as well.
Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka could have turned to the buyout market for the team’s final roster spot, but he instead decided to reward Bufkin instead of likely losing him to another team as plenty currently have open roster spots to hand out.
Rob Pelinka: Lakers were aggressive at trade deadline
The Lakers’ only moves at the trade deadline were swapping Gabe Vincent for Luke Kennard in a trade with the Hawks that also involved a 2023 second-round pick, and now using their 15th roster spot to sign Bufkin.
Despite that though, Pelinka feels the Lakers were aggressive in their trade talks.
“I would say we were aggressive,” Pelinka began. “And one form of being aggressive is saying no to moves that come your way that might not be best for the short- and long-term future. That’s being aggressive, even though you end up doing nothing, because it’s hard to say no sometimes to getting a good player that could be a quick short-term fix, but could have implications for the long term where it doesn’t fit into the overall vision you have for the team.”
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