7:40pm: The Lakers have officially signed both Ryan and Bacon, the team tweets.
7:03am: The Lakers intend to sign free agent swingman Matt Ryan to a non-guaranteed contract, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). According to Charania, the team is also working toward an agreement on a camp deal with free agent wing Dwayne Bacon.
Ryan, 25, signed a two-way contract with the Celtics in February and finished the season with the team. While he only appeared in a single regular season game for Boston, the former Chattanooga sharpshooter had a big year at the G League level, averaging 19.4 PPG on .469/.413/.860 shooting in 30 total regular season games (33.5 MPG) for the Grand Rapids Gold and Maine Celtics.
Ryan also made a strong impression at the Las Vegas Summer League this July, putting up 19.0 PPG on .550/.526/1.000 shooting in two appearances (22.9 MPG) for Boston before suffering an ankle sprain.
As for Bacon, the 2017 second-round pick has appeared in 207 regular season games for Charlotte and Orlando since making his debut five years ago, but didn’t play in the NBA last season after being waived by the Knicks in October. Bacon signed with AS Monaco shortly after being cut by New York and competed in France’s top basketball league in 2021/22.
The Lakers currently have two openings on their 20-man training camp roster, so they could add Ryan and Bacon without making any cuts.
Two sport athlete. He was fantastic against the Chiefs yesterday.
You beat me to it haha
I could def see Bacon making this team. He played big in a bunch of Euroleague games last season & could push Lonnie Walker & Troy Brown for rotation mins on the wing
DBake keeping Monaco alive in the Euroleague qfs, making a bunch of great passes & scoring 21, including the gw in this crucial gm4.. link to m.youtube.com
Thank you for the link. Makes it easy to catch a glimpse of the player.
Facts man Bacon has a good size and he can make a difference on this team! Hopefully he’ll make the cut.
The Baconator
Get that bacon
I was shocked Bacon was not in the league last year. I thought at the very least he would have slipped into the league for a game or two