The Lakers continued revamping their roster Thursday morning, hours before the NBA’s trade deadline, by trading the big man who helped them navigate one of the most precarious stretches of the season.
The Lakers will trade Thomas Bryant to Denver for wing Davon Reed and three second-round picks, a deal first reported by ESPN and confirmed to Southern California News Group. Bryant had averaged 12.1 points and 6.8 rebounds in his second stint in L.A., including 25 starts when he filled in for Anthony Davis who was injured for a 20-game chunk of the season.
ESPN reported that the Lakers would receive picks in 2025, 2026 and 2029, helping restore a stash that the team gave up last month in a trade for Rui Hachimura. Reed is a fourth-year, 6-foot-5 wing who has averaged just nine minutes this season for Denver and has shot a career 38.4% on 3-pointers.
Bryant came to L.A. on a minimum deal this summer, returning to the franchise that drafted him No. 42 overall in 2017. While he started out the season with a thumb injury that required surgery, he quickly caught on as a hard runner in transition and a soft finisher by the rim. As a starter when Davis was injured for a month, Bryant was a stalwart, averaging 14.5 points and 8.6 rebounds to fill a huge offensive hole.
He was one of the most efficient offensive players on the team, shooting over 65% from the field and a team-leading 44% from three. But Bryant also struggled on the defensive end, and with the Lakers acquiring players that would set them over the salary cap this summer, ESPN reported that the team would have less ability to give him a raise this summer on a new deal.
The Lakers have backup Wenyen Gabriel (6.4 ppg, 3.9 rpg), who has played well in spurts as a more defense-oriented option, as well as recently acquired Jarred Vanderbilt from Utah, who can play a variety of positions at 6-foot-9. Both, however, have slight builds as undersized centers.
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