South Bay Lakers Sign Guard Devonte' Graham
Yesterday at 09:00 AM
The South Bay Lakers announce they have signed guard Devonte’ Graham. To make this move happen, they waived forward Tommy Rutherford.
He made his debut for the team in Phoenix on Friday night and finished with 19 points, five rebounds and six assists in South Bay’s loss.
Graham is a 6’1″ guard who was selected No. 34 in the 2018 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks. The former Kansas Jayhawk has played in 336 NBA games across six seasons, starting 171 of them.
The 29-year-old has averaged 11.1 points, 2.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists on 37.1% from the field and 35.4% from 3-point range. Across his six seasons, Graham suited up with the San Antonio Spurs, New Orleans Pelicans, and Charlotte Hornets.
During his time with the Hornets, Grahan made a name for himself as a high volume scoring guard. If he got going offensively, he became a dangerous option for the Hornets.
Along those lines, he scored double figures in 180 games out of those 336, 49 times with 20+ points, eight with 30+ points and one 40-point performance. During the 2019-20 season, Graham ranked fifth in the league in 3-pointers made and got a nod to partake in the Mountain Dew 3-Point Contest at NBA All-Star Weekend.
Up to this point, the veteran has yet to suit up this season. He was last on the Spurs and only saw the floor 23 times, averaging 13.6 minutes a contest.
After the 2023-24 season, San Antonio traded Graham back to the Hornets. Charlotte would go on to immediately waive him, making him an unrestricted free agent.
The Portland Trail Blazers would sign him to a one-year, $2.61 million contract. However, he would once more would be waived after two preseason games.
Now, Graham returns to the G League, where he played 13 games during the 2018-19 season for the Greensboro Swarm. Graham would go on to averaged 23.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.5 steals in 34 minutes.
Devonte’ Graham had pre-draft workout with Lakers
It remains to be seen if Graham will be a long-term stay with the South Bay Lakers, whether he gets a call up to the Lakers or receives another opportunity elsewhere in the NBA.
But there is a familiarity there as during the 2018 NBA Draft process, Graham worked out for the Lakers organization. L.A.’s scouting department tends to do their research when trying to find hidden gems.
The former Kansas Jayhawk along with Landry Shamet were two notable names that headlined the Lakers pre-draft workout list at the UCLA Health Training Center.
However, things did not materialize as the purple and gold selected No. 25 and 47. Graham was selected No. 34, which was 13 picks before L.A.’s second-round pick. The two names the Lakers came out with that night were Moritz Wagner and Sviatoslav Mykhailuk.
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