Recent First Round Pick Waived By West Rival, Could Hit Buyout Market

Could your Los Angeles Lakers be amenable to shaking up their frontcourt this late into the 2023-24 regular season?

The Western Conference's No. 2 seed, the Oklahoma City Thunder, announced this weekend that they have waived 2020 No. 17 overall draft pick Aleksej Pokusevski, who was essentially a very, very version of the type of player they would eventually acquire in the form of the Thunder's shiny new center, Rookie of the Year favorite Chet Holmgren.

Pokusevski, still just 22, has only appeared in 10 games for the 40-17 Thunder, cameoing through six minutes of action per bout. Injury issues waylaid the seven-foot string bean power forward/center midway through the 2022-23 season (he broke his leg and arm, appearing in just 34 healthy bouts), and that problem carried over through this fall, when he incurred an ankle sprain in September.

He's an intriguing, long big man with a handle, though his control as a playmaker is a bit limited and he's had a lot of the worrying health issues one can ascribe to guys of his gawky stature. Essentially, Poku is very much still a project.

So would he fit on a Lakers team that currently has all 15 of its standard roster spots filled? Would his addition represent any kind of improvement over LA's bench frontcourt (Christian Wood, Jaxson Hayes, Jarred Vanderbilt)? No, but is he worth a gander on a two-way contract (where he'd theoretically replace the injured Colin Castleton) or an affiliate contract with the team's NBAGL squad, the South Bay Lakers? Absolutely. So really, the question becomes: will any other NBA franchise give him a gander on a standard roster contract, or will he be available for a lesser agreement?