The Los Angeles Lakers took a pretty clear new direction this offseason in breaking up most of the roster from last year, aggressively pursuing a sign-and-trade for center Walker Kessler and adding Sandro Mamukelashvili, Quentin Grimes, Collin Sexton and Kevon Looney in free agency. Though Rob Pelinka is still the general manager of this bunch, there is a new front office that has been built around him and it is clear there is an effort to update the way the Lakers do business.
But one of the tests of this team, and of the new franchise structure, could well be on display at this year’s summer league in Las Vegas. On Saturday, Arthur Kaluma–who was with the Lakers’ G League team last season–scored 34 points on a remarkable 11-for-16 shooting night and in the process, naturally raised the hopes of Lakers backers that he could be a role-playing find this year.
Maybe. That sort of development has not been a strong suit of this Lakers organization in recent years, though.
Lakers Urged to Sign Arthur Kaluma
Certainly, the push is there for the Lakers to find a place for Kaluma. The team has all three two-way spots on the roster occupied (Chris Manon, Peter Suder and AK Okereke), but those can be changed at any time. The regular roster does have only 14 players as things stand. Kaluma could be No. 15, though the Lakers are still seeking to add a veteran, whether Jonathan Kuminga or a minimum player.
It’s possible the Lakers could create another spot if they trade Bronny James once his father signs a new deal.
As the “PerSourcesCEO,” account on Twitter/X wrote, “Lakers need to get Kaluma on a two-way ASAP, not mad at them keeping Manon on a two-way either until we’re forced to convert him to the main roster.”
Edwin Garcia of the Silver Screen and Roll analysis site wrote, “They say America is the land of opportunity, but in the NBA world, that place can be narrowed down to Las Vegas in July. … Arthur Kaluma took advantage of the opportunity.”
The “LakersHistorian” account on Twitter/X wrote, “Arthur Kaluma came to Vegas with something to prove… and he delivered. The Lakers may have found another hidden gem. Should they lock him up?”
The popular Lakers Twitter/X account “LakeShowYo” wrote of Arthur Kaluma: “WHO IS THIS ON THE LAKERS SUMMER LEAGUE SQUAD SIGN HIM ASAP @LAKERS.”
Arthur Kaluma Improving Shot, Defense
Kaluma, undrafted last year out of Texas, certainly looked good on Saturday, and summer league is really no time for cautious analysis, but reality requires we throw up some red flags on the Kaluma Lakers excitement. In his two California Classic games, Kaluma was 10-for-23 combined and 1-for-10 from the 3-point line, as he scored 28 total points. He had 18 points on 5-for-5 shooting in the first Las Vegas league game.
In 35 G League games last year, Kaluma averaged 14.6 points and shot 54.5%, 36.4% from the 3-point line.
The hope is that he can be a find as a 3-and-D wing. One NBA scout said: “We liked him coming out of college, he had some good workouts but it was obvious he was going to be a development guy and at his age (he was 23 when he came out for the draft, and is 24 now) you can’t really invest a spot on the roster for that. He has all the tools to be a good defender, you know, he has the wingspan (7-foot) and the athleticism, but he just never put it together. And his shot was not there.
“But you can see he has improved. Has he improved enough to be an NBA player? Probably not but that is where you have to look at your development people and see where they’re at with him. He could be kind of a fascinating case.”
Lakers Developmental Successes Are Rare
And that’s one of the issues the Lakers have had recently. Credit to the team, Austin Reaves has been one of the best undrafted players in the history of the league. But the Lakers have not been able to develop young players who can come in and contribute and build themselves into productive rotation roles. They’ve had a hard enough time developing their own first-round draft picks.
Kaluma has the tools. And there are other candidates for the team’s new developmental system to show its chops–the three two-way players, first-round pick Cameron Carr, former second-rounder Adou Thiero. The Lakers have not gotten much out of the back end of the roster in recent years, but finding a couple of contributing players among that group would be a big and welcome change.
Lakers Get Mounting Calls to Make Move on ‘Fascinating’ Rookie