Before the second round of the NBA draft began on Wednesday, the Lakers made a move to jump into the final selections of the night and traded cash considerations to the Chicago Bulls for the 56th overall pick.

But when it was the Lakers’ turn on the clock, the player selected was already headed somewhere else.

For the second consecutive night, the Lakers drafted a European player (Russian wing Vsevolod Ishchenko) in a trade to be officialized later that would end the day with the Dallas Mavericks. The Lakers sent the 56th pick that they acquired just hours earlier, to the Mavericks for cash considerations.

One explanation for moving into and out of the draft is that the Lakers’ preferred selection was no longer available. North Carolina center Henri Veesaar, who had been mocked by many to the Lakers with their original 25th overall pick in the first round, was still available as late as the 52nd pick in the second round as the most high-profile slide down the board.

However, Veesaar came off the board at No. 52 as the Atlanta Hawks traded with the Clippers to swoop in and grab the second-team All-ACC post.

The Lakers opted out of the second round, but they didn’t end the night without new players alongside their first-round selection Cameron Carr. The Lakers first signed Vanderbilt forward AK Okereke to a two-way contract, a league source confirmed to the Southern California News Group on Wednesday night.

Okereke, a 6-foot-7, 220-pound forward, averaged 9.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game in 36 games for the Commodores last season. The 22-year-old spent just one year at Vanderbilt after playing the previous three years at Cornell, where he began his career as a walk-on player. He appeared in just four games during his freshman season in 2022-23.

Okereke, from Clovis, recorded his best college season in 2024-25, when he averaged 13.9 points per game on 59.5% shooting from the field. Okereke has a solid stroke from 3-point range, increasing his attempts from behind the arc every year. At Vanderbilt last season, Okereke shot a career-best 40% from 3-point range on 2.6 attempts per game.

Chris Mañon, who spent last season with the Lakers on a two-way contract, also played three years at Cornell before playing one season with Vanderbilt and became an undrafted free agent. The Lakers now return to the Vanderbilt well for Okereke.

Not long after signing Okereke, the Lakers also added Miami (Ohio) guard Peter Suder on a two-way NBA deal, his agency Edge Sports International announced on social media Wednesday night.

Suder, 22, spent his final two of his college seasons at Miami, tallying 14.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.0 assists per game while shooting 54.6% from the field and 42.1% from 3-point range in his senior season. The 6-foot-5 savvy shot creator helped lead the RedHawks to a perfect 31-0 regular season record.

Before playing at Miami, Suder played his freshman and sophomore campaigns at Bellarmine in the Atlantic Sun. Suder worked out for the Lakers during the pre-draft process, a source familiar with the workout process confirmed to SCNG.