6:26pm: Both moves are official, the Lakers announced (via Twitter).
1:09pm: The Lakers have signed free agents Kylor Kelley and Quincy Olivari to Exhibit 10 contracts, according to reports from Jovan Buha of The Athletic and Trevor Lane of Lakers Nation (Twitter links). Olivari’s agreement with the team was first reported in June, but Lane indicates that it’s official now (Twitter link).
Kelley, who went undrafted out of Oregon State in 2020, has played in the G League and a handful of other non-NBA leagues – including in England and Denmark – since going pro.
The 7’0″ center spent the 2023/24 season with the Maine Celtics, Boston’s affiliate, and earned NBAGL All-Defensive honors after averaging a league-leading 2.9 blocks per game in 29 regular season appearances (22.0 MPG). Kelley, 26, also contributed 7.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per contest.
Olivari, meanwhile, was a two-time All-CUSA honoree during his four seasons at Rice who transferred to Xavier for his final season of NCAA eligibility in 2023/24. The 6’2″ guard posted averages of 19.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.4 steals per night last season, with shooting splits of .425/.409/.814.
Olivari played for the Lakers’ Summer League team last month, while Kelley suited up for the Thunder’s Summer League squad.
A player on an Exhibit 10 contract can earn a bonus worth up to $77.5K if he’s waived by his NBA team and then spends at least 60 days with his club’s G League affiliate. Exhibit 10 deals can also be converted to two-way contracts before the start of the regular season.
The Lakers now have 20 players under contract, including 15 on guaranteed standard deals and three on two-way pacts.
Kelley is an excellent shot blocker and a good rim runner. It’s odd he keeps picking up these exhibit 10 contracts instead of going overseas and making some real coin.
Kelley is an nba player, in my opinion.
He is a helluva defensive player and has one of the quickest jump twitches I’ve ever seen.
Saw him play four times in the TBL (Salem, OR) this past season after his GLeague season finished and thought, “he should be in the nba”. Then I watched him on tv in Vegas starting for OKC’s summer team and knew he’s getting close.
Within a year we’ll read on this site about him signing a 3-yr deal.
Reminds me of a past situation of a guy I played with in Yakima named Mark Blount. Coach cut him after 2 games – and then he spent the next 10 years in the NBA, mostly as a starting Center.
I hope you’re right. I saw him play live in Maine about 5 times last year. As I said he’s an excellent shot blocker, and a good rim runner. He can make a lot more than 77k a year.
> He can make a lot more than 77k a year.
Yes, he has a high school teaching credential.
Or he could play in one of the dozens of leagues across the world that would pay him more than 77k a year.
> Reminds me of a past situation of a guy I played with in Yakima named
> Mark Blount. Coach cut him after 2 games – and then he spent the next
> 10 years in the NBA, mostly as a starting Center.
Cool story. But Blount didn’t go on to the NBA after being cut by Yakima. He spent 4 more years in the G-League before making an NBA roster.
Aristotle… Did Blount play for the Celtics before or after Yakima?
As I said…
He played for the glorious Sun Kings and then spent 10 years in the league.
I didn’t mis-speak.
I lived it – you’re reading the almanac.
Hell, In the one that told him he was cut and when his flight out was – which is another hilarious story.
Cool stories, how do we subscribe?
People that hang out on public forums telling stories about how they ”actually lived it” typically aren’t taken seriously… but you’re obviously an exception.
And, if anybody else said that Kylor Kelley is on his way to signing a 3 year NBA contract…well, they’d lose all hoops credibility. But you’re obviously smarter than every NBA organization, so we all know Kelley is going to be rich.
And I’m sure you’ll have lots of takers for “another hilarious story” about Blount trying to catch an airplane.
That’s the best you got, huh?
No, but sometimes the TKO comes easy.
In your mind, absolutely!
You comment like you were one of the last two to be chosen in gym class games, and the other person was selected and you were just pointed to the other team.
Sorry my example/anolgy about Kelley and Blount potentially mirroring each other triggered you.
Breathe in…
Breathe out
Finally! Exactly the moves we’ve been waiting for to put them over the top! Top marks to pelinka, masterful offseason.
Every team signs Exhibit ten players you dolt.
I know. Dolt. That wasn’t the point. Dolt.
Then you posted it on the wrong thread.
I like how you said “dolt” twice.
Adorable.
But that wasn’t the point. Don’t you get it?
“Masterful!” “Top marks!”
These guys just signed G League tryouts, not even two-way deals. Across NBA 30 teams, there are typically about 2-3 players on this type of contract who get called up, and that’s because of inordinately high injuries.
Kelley is 26 years old. He’s practice fodder. Every other NBA team passed on him after his G League release. If you’re sure he’s headed for a 3 year NBA contract, I’d be willing to give you 5000 to 1 odds.
With regards to Mark Blount, I know him also, and the comparison is nuts. As a drafted player, Blount was cut from Yakima at 21 years old (5 years younger than Kelly). You make it sound like he was ready for the NBA at that point. But Blount was on 4 NBA pre-season rosters, was one of the last cuts every time, and played 4 more years in the G-League before getting his first NBA start at 25 years old. Since leaving college, Kelley has never sniffed the NBA.
Kelley is like Mark Blount inasmuch as he got cut from a G League team. Other that that your memory of Blount After Yakima, Mark Blount played professionally in Europe for 3 years before becoming a
A what?
You wrote all that and then took a nap while writing?
My bad. I was awestruck by jump_shot’s auto-biography.
Seeing hoops through the eyes of the Yakima SunKings’ ex Equipment Manager is transformational.