Journeyman power forward Wenyen Gabriel, who most recently served with your Los Angeles Lakers for parts of the 2021-22 and '23 seasons (where he was often played out of position, at center, in both Frank Vogel and Darvin Ham's offenses), has inked a fresh contract with his first NBA team of the 2023-24 season, with just a month to go.
Sources inform Michael Scotto of HoopsHype that Gabriel is signing a 10-day contract with the lottery-bound Memphis Grizzlies, presumably a hardship deal.
Gabriel had most recently served with the Milwaukee Bucks' G League affiliate club, the Wisconsin Herd, for much of the year so far, hoping for a call-up to the majors. Now, he's got his shot. Across 40 NBAGL contests with the Herd, the 6'9" Kentucky product logged averages of 14.9 points, 9.4 rebounds and 1.5 blocks this year.
He split the 2021-22 season between the Brooklyn Nets, Los Angeles Clippers and finally the Lakers. Across 19 contests that year (five starts), he averaged 6.7 points on 50.5% shooting from the field, 4.3 rebounds, and 0.6 steals.
Gabriel was retained by the Purple and Gold on a non-guaranteed minimum deal in 2022-23. Ultimately, he didn't prove particularly helpful as a reserve center while LA made a late postseason bid, prompting team president Rob Pelinka to sign Tristan Thompson to a deal ahead of the play-in tournament and playoffs. In 68 regular season contests that year, playing strictly as a five, Gabriel averaged 5.5 points on 59.6% shooting from the floor, 4.2 boards, 0.5 blocks and 0.5 dimes.
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