2023 Lakers summer league player grades: L.J. Figueroa

A final look at L.J. Figueroa’s performance during NBA Summer League play for the Lakers this year.

The 2023 NBA Summer League is in the books, and it gave a number of players the opportunity to flash their potential and possibly earn a spot in the association.

The Lakers had a mix of can’t-miss players, prospects looking to get some playing time with Los Angeles and those fighting for an NBA spot.

L.J. Figueroa, a 6-foot-6 wing who went undrafted out of the University of Oregon in 2021, was on the Lakers’ summer league roster this month after a couple of stints in the G League, one of which came with the South Bay Lakers.

Lakers make two minor roster tweaks ahead of final two preseason games

The Lakers made a couple of moves on the margins of their roster as they prepare to start the regular season next week.

The Los Angeles Lakers have two preseason games remaining, and as they near their regular-season opener, they made two minor roster moves on Monday.

They waived guard LJ Figueroa, whom they signed a couple of days ago. Figueroa did not play in the team’s game against the Golden State Warriors on Sunday, which it won, 124-121.

At the same time, the Lakers picked up Bryce Hamilton, a 6-foot-4 rookie guard who played four seasons at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Last season, as a senior, he averaged 21.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.2 assists while hitting 34.6% from 3-point land.

At this point, players such as Hamilton are most likely candidates for the South Bay Lakers than the NBA Lakers.

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Lakers release two players, sign two new players

The Lakers have made a few minor roster moves.

Through three preseason games, the Los Angeles Lakers are 0-3, but there are things to be hopeful for.

When their regular rotation players have been in the game, mostly in the first half and for much of the third quarter, they have looked fairly good on both ends of the floor.

But head coach Darvin Ham has given almost all the rest of the available playing time to men who will either not make the final roster or get very little run during the regular season.

It’s part of his job. Every team needs to determine who will end up getting its final roster spots.

To that end, the Lakers released Dwayne Bacon and Javante McCoy, and signed L.J. Figueroa and Shaquille Harrison.

Figueroa is a 6-foot-6, 200-pound guard who spent last season in the G League. He seems to have the potential to be a good rebounder for a guard.

Harrison, meanwhile, has played with six teams across five NBA seasons. His best year came in the 2019-20 campaign when he averaged 4.9 points in 11.3 minutes per game while shooting 38.1% from 3-point range.

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Five more 2021 NBA draft prospects to reportedly work out with Celtics Wednesday

Boston is paying a lot of attention to the back end of the 2021 NBA draft.

It seems the Boston Celtics have a lot of interest in players projected to fall mid-way through the second round of the 2021 NBA draft to undrafted with a strong slate of fringe candidates reportedly slated to work out with the team by Forbes Sports’ Chris Grenham.

While it is still unclear if this reflects an over-arching draft strategy for the Celtics given the event is slated to take place on July 29 — over a month in the future — it’s clear Boston believes it will have some potential reasons to be interviewing these players once that day finally arrives. In addition to a number of such prospects we have already written about, five more prospects are reported to be hosted for pre-draft workouts with Boston today.

Let’s take a quick look at the field.