Former Lakers Sharpshooter Signs 10-Day Deal with East Squad

Swider, 25, initially went unselected out of Syracuse in the 2022 NBA Draft. Along with Scotty Pippen Jr., he was inked to a two-way deal (back when NBA teams only had a pair of two-way slots, not the three they have access to now).

During his rookie pro season, Swider was toggled between the Western Conference Finals-bound Lakers and South Bay.

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In 27 regular-season contests with South Bay (19 starts), he averaged an encouraging 17.1 points on .506/.436/.838 shooting splits, 4.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 0.8 steals a night. He suited up for just seven contests with the Lakers proper, averaging 1.3 points, 1.0 rebounds, and 0.6 assists in 5.9 minutes per.

Swider spent the 2023-24 season with the Miami Heat on a two-way deal, and was with the Detroit Pistons on a two-way contract earlier this season. After Detroit waived him in January, Swider's rights were traded from the Pistons' NBAGL affiliate, the Motor City Cruise, back to South Bay.

In 13 games for South Bay this year, he averaged 21.1 points on a .495/.443/.952 slash line, 6.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 0.9 steals a night.

He earned real rotation minutes with Toronto right away, upon officially signing with the Raptors on Wednesday.

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In 19:42 of action during the team's 116-86 blowout of another tanking East squad, the Brooklyn Nets, Swider scored seven points on 3-of-7 shooting from the field (1-of-4 from deep) and 0-of-1 shooting from the foul line, grabbed three boards, and swiped a steal

The victory over Brooklyn improved Toronto's record to a still-bad 26-47 on the year. The Raptors currently have the seventh-worst record in the NBA, and no doubt will lean on their youth movement to drop games down the home stretch of the season, with their eye on maximizing lottery balls.

Swider began his NBA career alongside two other Lakers rookies who've gone on to have much bigger impacts in Pippen (now turning heads as Ja Morant's backup on the Memphis Grizzlies) and L.A.'s second-round draft pick out of Michigan State that year, Max Christie (now a 3-and-D swingman on the Dallas Mavericks).

As a floor-stretching big who could theoretically play both forward positions, Swider has the outlines of being a modern NBA talent. He has yet to carve out a consistent role for himself, but he'll get plenty of opportunities to do so right now.

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