The Lakers have waived shooting guard David Nwaba, the team announced today in a press release. The move appears to be a precursor to L.A. finalizing its contract agreement with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
[RELATED: Lakers to sign Kentavious Caldwell-Pope]
Nwaba, 24, made his NBA debut with the Lakers earlier this year after signing a 10-day contract with the team. The 6’4″ shooting guard eventually earned a second 10-day deal and then a rest-of-season contract with an option for ’17/18.
In 20 regular season contests (19.8 MPG), Nwaba averaged 6.0 PPG and 3.2 RPG for the Lakers. The team was also said to be impressed with his play on defense. Nwaba did enough to get the club to pick up his team option last month, but his salary for 2017/18 remained non-guaranteed, making him a candidate to be waived when the Lakers needed to clear a little extra cap flexibility.
With Nwaba’s minimum salary contract off the books, the Lakers have about $17.7MM in cap room. There’s a good chance the team will sign second-round pick Thomas Bryant to a contract using cap space before finalizing its deal with Caldwell-Pope, since that would allow for a longer-term contract for the rookie without reducing the team’s cap room — Bryant’s $816K minimum salary would replace an $816K charge for an empty roster spot.
After that, the Lakers could make Caldwell-Pope’s deal official and would still have the $4.3MM room exception to add another player. The club could also re-sign Nwaba to a new minimum salary deal at some point. However, he’d have to clear waivers first, and there’s no guarantee another team won’t claim him later this week.
I love the pope signing but this is a bummer. I love Davids game!! I hope he lands somewhere!
I feel the same way. Once Nwaba joined the team last year the intensity was incredible. I love KPC and I hope Nwaba can get a job somewhere else
Lakers might resign Nwaba with the room exception once he clears waivers if they can’t use it to sign Rondo.
damn nwaba is a beast
Nwaba will almost certainly get a contract somewhere, dude can play
Nwaba is a beast. Hopefully he lands somewhere because he would be a great role player for a contender.