Lakers To Sign Matisse Thybulle To One Year Contract

As The Athletic’s Jovan Buha points out (Twitter link), the Lakers will now have 16 players with guaranteed contracts. They’ll have to waive or trade at least one of them by opening night to reach the 15-man limit. The Lakers’ interest in signing Thybulle was reported by multiple outlets.

Since entering the league in 2019 in Philadelphia, Thybulle has established himself as a defensive ace, though his offensive contributions are modest. During his 377 career games, he’s averaged 5.0 points and 1.1 assists in 20.6 minutes per game.

Thybulle has spent the last 3 1/2 seasons with the Trail Blazers, though he hasn’t played much the past two campaigns. He was limited to 45 games due to ankle, knee and thumb injuries. He was healthy to finish the 2025/26 campaign and was playing rotation minutes for Portland down the stretch.

The addition of Thybulle could raise the possibility of the Lakers working out a sign-and-trade deal with Atlanta for Jonathan Kuminga. If the Lakers were to send out two players for salary-matching purposes in a sign-and-trade for Kuminga, it would open up a spot on the 15-man roster for Thybulle.

Thybulle joins a revamped Lakers roster with a number of options at the wing positions, led by Austin Reaves and free agent addition Quentin Grimes.