The Los Angeles Lakers only had one draft pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, but they’ve added some undrafted rookies to inject some youth into the roster. On Friday, they made another notable signing.
The team signed Maryland forward Julian Reese. He’s coming off a productive stint with Maryland, where he averaged 11.1 points per game and 7.6 rebounds in four years. While he got to the NBA on his own merit, he also has a very famous family member.
He’s the younger brother of Chicago Sky forward and WNBA star Angel Reese. She was very excited for her brother and reacted to the news on X.
“OPPORTUNITY. COME ON JU,” Angel Reese wrote.
If Julian Reese can earn a roster spot with the Lakers, that’d be a big deal for the family, as they’d have a son on the NBA’s most popular brand and a daughter who is one of the biggest stars in the WNBA.
It’ll be an uphill climb for Julian Reese to make the roster, but the Lakers have had some success with undrafted free agents. Alex Caruso, Austin Reaves and Scottie Pippen have all become impact players in the NBA after being undrafted free agents by the Lakers over the last several years. Perhaps Reese can be the next Lakers undrafted success story.
Lakers Saw Adou Thiero as First-Round Talent
The rookie who has the best chance of making the Lakers roster this season is second-round pick Adou Thiero. The guard out of Arkansas was a player that President of Basketball Operations and general manager Rob Pleinka thought very highly of.
In fact, the Lakers thought of him as a first-round pick.
“Adou was projected by our scouts as a first round talent and so we were able to turn [pick number] 55, which is a late second round pick, to a high second round pick, to pick a player that we had projected in the first round,” Pelinka said on Spectrum SportsNet. “So, it’s almost like having the first round pick that we traded out. Tons of credit, thankful for the support of Jeannie to allow us to be aggressive and use resources to win at the margins, move up in the draft, and get a player that we really think is going to dimensionalize our roster.
“We just felt like one of the things we needed to address is to get younger and more athletic on the wings and being able to get a player like Adou that can catch lobs from the corner when Luka is making paint decisions I think is going to be really special. Then he’s just big, big, big shoulders, big chest, a guy that’s going to play defense and add some physicality and athleticism to our roster. Super excited about that.”
Will Thiero Be a Rotational Player as a Rookie?
As long as things go right this offseason, the Lakers should be a contending team this season. That could make it difficult for younger players like Thiero to break into the rotation.
The concern with Thiero is that he’s not a good shooter. That would be the easiest way for him to earn a role as a rookie. He’ll have to show he can be an impact defender before the Lakers trust him with a lot of minutes.
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