The Los Angeles Lakers announced that they have signed center Harry Giles III to a two-way contract and waived forward Dylan Windler.
The roster move gives the Lakers some added size while guys like Christian Wood, Jarred Vanderbilt and Colin Castleton continue to work their way back from their respective injuries. In their absence, the only big men the Lakers have had on the roster are Anthony Davis and Jaxson Hayes.
As a result, the Lakers have gotten killed on the defensive glass in recent weeks, so now head coach Darvin Ham has another option to go to in Giles to avoid that happening moving forward.
Giles is a former 20th overall draft pick out of Duke by the Sacramento Kings in 2017. He has been limited to just 156 career games across four seasons due to injuries, averaging 5.6 points and 3.6 rebounds in 12.1 minutes per game. In 16 games for the Brooklyn Nets this season, the 25-year-old averaged 3.4 points and 1.6 rebounds in 5.1 minutes per contest.
Giles will provide the Lakers with some size at 6’11” though and has averaged 16.6 points and 10.7 rebounds per 36 minutes in his career.
As a former No. 1 overall recruit out of high school, expectations were high for Giles coming into the NBA and while he hasn’t quite been able to live up to them due to injuries, he is excited and ready for this opportunity with the Lakers:
While Giles will not be eligible to play in the playoffs for the Lakers, he can helped out if needed down the stretch for the Lakers with them needing to win at a high rate to even make the postseason. Additionally, the organization can get a look at the big man to see if he is a potential fit for next season and beyond.
Meanwhile, Windler spent around half the season with the Lakers before being waived to make room on the roster for Giles. He did not get much of an opportunity, averaging 1.5 points in 3.5 minutes across eight contests, mostly coming in garbage time.
Colin Castleton out for Lakers with wrist fracture
One of the reasons the Lakers felt the need to add some size was before of the recent injury to Colin Castleton, one of their other two-way centers.
Castleton may have been in line for some playing time after the knee injury to Christian Wood, but he instead suffered a fractured right wrist that is expected to keep him out for at least a few weeks.
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