Lakers Rumors: Jarred Vanderbilt's $4.7M Contract Option to Be Picked Up by LAL

The Los Angeles Lakers plan to exercise their team option on forward Jarrad Vanderbilt for the 2023-24 season, per ESPN's Dave McMenamin, who provided more information:

The Lakers added Vanderbilt in a three-team trade with the Utah Jazz and Minnesota Timberwolves on Feb. 9. L.A. notably sent Russell Westbrook to the Jazz in that deal, and the Lakers also got back Malik Beasley and D'Angelo Russell.

The 6'9" Vanderbilt averaged 7.9 points and 7.5 rebounds for the Jazz and Lakers last season. He notably started 37 of his 41 games for the Lakers over the course of the regular season and playoffs.

Vanderbilt played an integral role in the team's late-season surge, which saw L.A. go 18-8 in its final 26 regular-season games.

A play-in tournament win over Minnesota Timberwolves propelled the No. 7 seed Lakers on a great playoff run that saw them defeat the No. 2 seed Memphis Grizzlies and the defending champion Golden State Warriors before falling to the eventual NBA champion Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference finals.

Now the Lakers have decided to run it back with Vanderbilt for at least one more year and hold the option to keep him in town even longer with an extension.