Lakers working out 2011 No. 22 pick Kenneth Faried

The Los Angeles Lakers brought in an old buddy of LeBron James’ earlier this offseason when they signed Carmelo Anthony. Now they could be signing an old buddy of Anthony Davis’ next.

Jovan Buha of The Athletic reported on Monday that free agent big man Kenneth Faried is working out for the Lakers this week.

The 31-year-old Faried, nicknamed “The Manimal,” rose to prominence with the Denver Nuggets in the 2010s but has been out of the league since 2019. He used to be teammates with Davis on the international stage however. The two big men were part of the USA Basketball team that won the gold medal at the 2014 FIBA World Cup. Faried and Davis were Team USA’s two leading rebounders that year.

In 2021 though, it is hard to tell where Faried would fit in with the Lakers. He fell out of the NBA’s good graces due to his inability to hit the three or to protect the rim. While Faried is a ferocious rebounder and lob-catcher, the Lakers already have two players with that same skillset in DeAndre Jordan and Dwight Howard. At 6-foot-8, Faried is also smaller than both of them. Still, Faried has a much better chance of getting the Lakers’ last roster spot than this other guy who wants it.