Lakers Rumors: Ater Majok Worth Low-Risk Flier for Los Angeles
It’s come to this for the Los Angeles Lakers and their fans.
After striking out on signing any game-changers like Carmelo Anthony in the offseason, the Lakers are reportedly interested in one of their former second-round draft picks from back in 2011 who never made it at the NBA level.
The craziest thing of all is that he would actually be worth the little risk that would come with signing him.
Shams Charania of RealGM passed along the latest on Ater Majok: “The Los Angeles Lakers have flown in center Ater Majok—their 58th overall draft pick in 2011—from China for a couple days of workouts with the team, league sources told RealGM.”
It may take some roster maneuvering to actually land Majok, since the Lakers are at the league maximum of 15 players, but Spotrac indicates the contracts of Ronnie Price and Wayne Ellington are both non-guaranteed.
Charania noted in the same report that Los Angeles is also interested in free agent Quincy Miller, but the Lakers were rewarded the disabled-player exception after so many injuries.
Considering the fact that the Lakers actually used a draft pick on Majok, there seems to have always been some level of interest there.
These comments from his agent Mike Lelchitski after the 2011 draft, via David Borges of The Middletown Press, confirm that: "The Lakers were extremely interested right off the bat. They had four second-round picks and they were looking for guys that could develop down the line."
Majok has played professionally across the world, including stops in Germany, Korea, Slovakia and Belarus. He also played in the NBA’s summer league for the Lakers in 2012.
The 27-year-old only played one season at Connecticut before leaving school. He appeared in 26 games but was a late arrival in 2009-10 and became eligible in December.
While he never caught on as a productive college player in his limited opportunity, he was a highly touted recruit who turned some heads before coming to the United States.
There is at least some talent waiting to be discovered.
The 6’10” Majok possesses a combination of size, length and athleticism and is versatile enough to play either forward position. He is also a solid rebounder who averaged three boards in 14.7 minutes a night in his one season at Connecticut.
From the Lakers’ perspective, they simply need more bodies to fill out the rest of the bench.
Julius Randle is out for the season, Steve Nash is out for the season, Nick Young has dealt with injuries all season and Ryan Kelly is yet to find consistency with his hamstring after missing some time early.
If nothing else, Majok would bolster the depth at the forward spot with the majority of a long and physically grueling NBA season still ahead.
There is really not much to lose either.
Majok is not going to command a large salary—Charania noted it would be a rookie-scale deal—even if he gets playing time, and it’s not like the Lakers are competing for anything of note this season.
If he doesn’t work out, Los Angeles can swallow the small salary loss and move on. If he did finally tap into that potential, the Lakers would have another option at forward off the bench.
Of course, the cynical take would be that the Lakers get to keep their draft pick after the season if it is a top-five selection.
Bringing in a former late draft pick who never made it in the NBA probably isn’t going to help the Lakers win a lot of games down the stretch of the season. The more the Lakers lose in 2014-15, the better it will be for their future.
They might as well try out an under-the-radar prospect who once turned some heads as a collegiate recruit.
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