Alex Len

Lakers’ Two-Way Players Nearing Active Game Limits

The Mavericks aren’t the only team whose three players on two-way contracts are all nearing their active game limits for the 2024/25 season. The Lakers find themselves in a similar boat.

There are 14 games left on Los Angeles’ regular season schedule, but the team’s two-way players – all of whom have emerged as contributors – won’t be able to suit up for all of those games as long as they remain on their current contracts.

Here are the details on their limits:

When a player signs a two-way contract before the start of the season, he’s eligible to be active for up to 50 regular season games. That amount becomes prorated if a player signs a two-way deal during the season.

[RELATED: Hoops Rumors Glossary: Two-Way Contract]

Koloko is the only one of the Lakers’ three two-way players who opened the year with the team, so he has a full 50 games available — he’s used 41 of them so far, with 34 appearances and seven additional DNPs. Jemison, who signed in January, has used 17 of his 26 available games (15 appearances, two DNPs), while Goodwin, signed in February, has used 15 of 19, appearing in all 15 of those games.

Unlike the injury-plagued Mavericks, the Lakers won’t find themselves at risk of not being able to deploy the minimum required eight active players if and when Goodwin, Koloko, and/or Jemison reach their limits. Los Angeles has more than enough healthy players to get by.

The Lakers also aren’t right up against their hard cap in the same way that the Mavericks are, so if they want to promote one or more of their two-way players to their standard 15-man roster, that’s an option. In that scenario, the player would no longer be subject to these restrictions and would also become playoff-eligible, putting him in position to play in any and every regular season and postseason game for L.A. this spring.

It seems likely the Lakers will go that route before season’s end. Goodwin, in particular, has become a regular rotation player, appearing in 15 of the team’s last 19 games and averaging 21.5 minutes per night during that stretch. His playing time has been trending upward as of late — he has started L.A.’s past four games and averaged 30.3 MPG in those contests.

Jemison and Koloko haven’t seen as much action as Goodwin, but one or the other has generally been serving as the Lakers’ backup center since the All-Star break. Jemison has been something of a good-luck charm — Los Angeles won the first 13 games in which he played.

The Lakers are currently operating about $894K below their hard cap. As of today, a rest-of-season, minimum-salary contract for any of their two-way players would count against the cap for approximately $300K. A multiyear deal for Jemison or Koloko would carry the same first-year cap hit, while a multiyear contract for Goodwin would have a slightly higher cap charge ($311K).

In other words, while the Lakers don’t quite have enough room to give standard contracts to Goodwin, Jemison, and Koloko today, they could easily max out those players’ two-way games and then promote them before the end of the regular season while staying below their hard cap.

Of course, the Lakers currently have a full 15-man standard roster, so they can’t promote any of their two-way players to a standard contract without waiving at least one of those 15.

Forward Cam Reddish, who has barely played since a trade agreement sending him to Charlotte fell through, and center Alex Len, a buyout market addition who hasn’t been very effective in a limited role, look like the top candidates to be waived if the Lakers need a roster spot.

Beyond those two, there aren’t a ton of great release candidates. Only three other players on the 15-man roster aren’t owed any guaranteed money beyond this season. Jaxson Hayes is the Lakers’ starting center and won’t be cut; Markieff Morris is valued for his veteran leadership; and Shake Milton has been pretty solid when given the opportunity to play.

In my opinion, the most likely scenario in Los Angeles is that Goodwin gets a promotion after reaching his active-game limit, replacing Reddish on the 15-man roster. The team could then decide during the last week or two of the regular season whether to promote Jemison or Koloko (or both) in place of a veteran like Len or Morris.

While a Jemison/Len swap would make some sense to me, it’s worth noting that Jemison is the only one of L.A.’s three two-way players whose contract runs through next season, so the club would be giving up that guaranteed extra year of two-way control by converting him this season. If the Lakers really want Jemison available in the postseason, that won’t stop them from promoting him, but if they’re deciding between him and Koloko, it’ll be a factor they take into account.

Lakers Notes: Doncic, Redick, Goodwin, Jemison, Reddish, Len

Facing the Clippers on Friday and Sunday for the first times since his Mavericks eliminated them from the playoffs last spring, Luka Doncic picked up right where he left off, leading the Lakers to a pair of hard-fought victories over their Los Angeles rivals.

Doncic scored 31 points in Friday’s win, then put up 29 points, nine assists, and six rebounds on Sunday. In that second victory, the Lakers were a +19 in his 37 minutes on the court and were outscored by 13 points in the 11 minutes he didn’t play. Head coach J.J. Redick loved what he saw from his newest star, as Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times writes.

“It just seemed like throughout the game, when we needed a bucket, when we needed him to draw a second, third defender at times, he was able to make the right play — minus the six turnovers. But he played fantastic,” Redick said after Sunday’s win. “And again, it was that verve and that spirit of competition. But also just something that is — maybe it’s an inner demon, I don’t know — but it comes out and it’s fantastic for us when it does.”

The Lakers’ defense has been a revelation during their recent hot streak — the team ranks first in the NBA with a 107.5 defensive rating since January 15 and has won 18 of 22 games during that time. But Doncic’s recent play has shown just how dangerous the team can be an offense as well.

“You’ve got a guy in your corner going Super Saiyan, for lack of a better word,” Lakers guard Gabe Vincent said. “And making great plays, hitting shots, it’s a lot of fun. It can give us a lot of life and we’ve been creating a lot of energy on the defensive side. And when he gets hot offensively, we feel like we can’t be stopped in that regard.”

Here’s more on the Lakers:

  • Doncic briefly left Sunday’s game after being kneed in the right knee, explaining after the game that he has taken multiple shots to that area within the past week. “Third straight game, the same spot,” he said (Twitter link via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin). “So, I was kind of struggling on that right leg. But I’m good.”
  • Only two teams in the NBA – the Cavaliers and Thunder – have a better home record than the Lakers’ 23-7 mark, which is why it’s encouraging that they’ve climbed into the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, writes Dylan Hernandez of The Los Angeles Times. If they hold that spot, they’d have home-court advantage for at least the first two rounds of the postseason. After Sunday’s win, Doncic referred to the atmosphere inside of Crypto.com Arena as “unbelievable.”
  • In a separate column for The L.A. Times, Hernandez writes that Redick has been everything the Lakers could have hoped for when they hired him as a first-time head coach. The Lakers players are buying what Redick is selling, according to Hernandez, who says the new coach has successfully instilled a positive culture and identity more effectively than any of his recent predecessors.
  • Cap expert Eric Pincus breaks down the Lakers’ options for promoting Jordan Goodwin and Trey Jemison from their two-way contracts to the standard roster, noting that giving them standard deals will be necessary if the team wants to have the duo available for the playoffs. While Cam Reddish seems likely to be the odd man out if just one of the two is promoted, it’s unclear who else might be waived if the Lakers want to elevate both — Pincus suggests recently signed center Alex Len, who struggled in limited minutes and quickly dropped out of the rotation, could be a release candidate.
  • Pincus also points out that the Lakers wouldn’t be able to sign a new two-way player to replace Goodwin or Jemison unless a promotion occurs today, since March 4 is the deadline for two-way signings.

Lakers Notes: LeBron, Luka, Center, Vanderbilt, DFS

Asked at All-Star weekend whether the the Lakers‘ acquisition of Luka Doncic might affect his timeline for retirement, star forward LeBron James neither confirmed nor denied that the opportunity to play alongside Doncic would prompt him to try to extend his career.

“I have not given it that type of thought,” James said, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “Just the excitement of being able to add a caliber player like that, a generational talent like that to our franchise, it’s something that’s given me energy. I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do. … I think we could be really good going down the stretch. But we’ll see what happens.”

As McMenamin relays, James discussed a wide variety of topics during his 15-minutes press conference on Sunday, including Saturday’s dunk contest. LeBron said it would be “pretty cool” to see stars like Ja Morant and Giannis Antetokounmpo compete in the event, as they teased on social media on Saturday night, but he said he’s fine with the fact that it’s not something on his own career résumé.

“No, there’s no part of me that has regrets about not doing it,” James said. “Obviously, I had a couple moments where I wanted to do it, and it just never worked out that way.”

Here’s more on the Lakers:

  • There’s “no tangible dismay” from Doncic’s camp about the fact that the Lakers’ trade for Mark Williams – who was reportedly “handpicked” by Doncic – ended up falling through, reports Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Substack link). According to Stein, Doncic told Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka he understood the team might not be able to add a starting-caliber center until the offseason, and he was impressed that Pelinka and the front office nearly addressed that need just days after making their deal with the Mavericks.
  • Doncic has been on a minutes restriction since returning from his calf strain last Monday, playing between 23 and 24 minutes in each of his first two outings as a Laker. According to Stein, L.A. is expected to continue with that “measured approach” coming out of the All-Star break, with Doncic likely to play in just one of the club’s back-to-back games on Wednesday vs. Charlotte and Thursday in Portland.
  • Jovan Buha of The Athletic considers what the Lakers’ center rotation will look like for the rest of this season, writing that Alex Len‘s first game last Wednesday was “rough” and the veteran’s floor may be lower than initially thought. In Buha’s view, the team may end up having to rely more than it would like on small-ball lineups, especially in the postseason, with Jarred Vanderbilt and Dorian Finney-Smith among the candidates to see minutes at the five in that scenario.

Contract Details: Diabate, Ingram, Battle, Len, Cissoko, Martin

The Hornets used a portion of their room exception to give Moussa Diabate more than the prorated minimum on his new three-year deal, Hoops Rumors has learned. Diabate will earn $957,763 for the rest of this season, then has non-guaranteed minimum salaries for the following two years.

Diabate’s $2,270,735 salary for 2025/26 will become partially guaranteed for $250K if he remains on his current contract through the first day of the Hornets’ regular season opener in the fall. The full amount would be guaranteed if he survives next season’s league-wide guarantee deadline date on January 7, 2026.

Here are a few more details on recently signed contracts from around the NBA:

  • While it’s not official yet, Brandon Ingram‘s three-year, $120MM extension with the Raptors will have an ascending structure, with 5% annual raises, so it’ll start at $38.1MM next season before increasing to $40MM in 2026/27, with a $41.9MM player option for ’27/28, per Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). Scotto adds that the deal won’t include a trade kicker.
  • Jamison Battle‘s new three-year contract with the Raptors will pay him $1MM this season, with that money coming out of Toronto’s mid-level exception, confirms Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter link). Battle’s minimum salary for 2025/26 is currently 50% guaranteed ($977,689 of $1,955,377) and would become fully guaranteed if he’s not waived by July 9, Murphy adds. Battle’s third-year minimum salary ($2,296,271) is non-guaranteed and would become fully guaranteed if he’s still under contract through June 30, 2026.
  • While the Lakers could technically have dipped into their taxpayer mid-level exception to sign Alex Len, that wasn’t necessary. The veteran center received a rest-of-season minimum-salary contract, which will pay him $1,177,206 and count for $743,829 on the team’s cap.
  • Sidy Cissoko‘s new two-way contract with the Trail Blazers covers two seasons, so Portland will be able to retain him on that contract through 2025/26, tweets Scotto. The same goes for Washington and Jaylen Martin, who got a two-year, two-way deal from the Wizards, Hoops Rumors has learned.

Lakers Sign Alex Len, Waive Christian Wood

4:56 pm: The Lakers have officially signed Len and waived Wood, the team confirmed in a press release.


4:13 pm: Free agent center Alex Len will sign with the Lakers, agent Mike Lelchitski tells Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

As we wrote earlier today, Len, who was cut by Washington on Saturday, initially planned to sign with the Pacers once he cleared waivers. However, he pivoted to an opportunity in Los Angeles after the Lakers rescinded their trade-deadline deal for Hornets center Mark Williams.

As Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star notes (via Twitter), Len would have slotted in as the third center in Indiana behind Myles Turner and Thomas Bryant, but he should have an opportunity with the Lakers to earn the primary backup role behind Jaxson Hayes on a roster that’s thin on frontcourt depth after sending Anthony Davis to Dallas in last week’s Luka Doncic blockbuster.

Len, 31, has been a little-used reserve center over the past three-and-a-half seasons in Sacramento, averaging 3.0 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 0.6 blocks in 10.0 minutes per game across 149 total outings (15 starts). The former No. 5 overall pick was traded from the Kings to the Wizards ahead of last Thursday’s deadline.

The Lakers have a full 15-man roster and will have to waive a player in order to make room for Len. According to Charania (Twitter link), that roster casualty will be Christian Wood, who has yet to play this season following offseason surgery on his left knee. That procedure was the second one Wood underwent on his knee in 2024.

In his first season in Los Angeles in 2023/24, Wood averaged 6.9 PPG, 5.1 RPG, and 0.7 BPG in 50 games (17.4 MPG) with a .466/.307/.702 shooting line. He’s on an expiring minimum-salary contract, so the Lakers won’t carry any dead money on their cap for him beyond this season.

As Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets, the Lakers entered the day with about $1.6MM in room below their second-apron hard cap. Len’s new deal will nearly trim that margin in half, but the team would still have enough flexibility to add a second player on the buyout market in the coming days or weeks if another opportunity arises. Another player on the current roster would have to be waived in that scenario, with Cam Reddish viewed as the most likely odd man out.

Lakers Expected To Add Center Soon

After having backed out of a trade-deadline deal for Mark Williams due to concerns about his physical, the Lakers find themselves shorthanded at the five. Jaxson Hayes is the only healthy center on the 15-man roster, with Christian Wood still recovering from knee surgery and two-way players Christian Koloko and Trey Jemison ineligible to play in the postseason.

According to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter video link), the Lakers are expected to make a move soon to add more depth in their frontcourt.

“I’m told the Lakers are pursuing multiple big men in the marketplace right now,” Charania said during an appearance on ESPN’s NBA Today on Tuesday. “They know they need some size. … I would expect the Lakers to move on a potential big man in the next 24 to 48 hours. They are working. Rob Pelinka and that front office are trying to acquire a center.”

The current list of free agent centers isn’t particularly inspiring, but there are a few veteran options who might make sense for Los Angeles, including Daniel Theis, Alex Len, Mohamed Bamba, and Moses Brown.

Theis is reportedly on the verge of signing with AS Monaco in Europe, but the others figure to be on the Lakers’ radar. Len was reportedly on track to sign with the Pacers over the weekend, but that deal fell through, fueling speculation that he might be pivoting to L.A. — Marc Stein reports (via Twitter) that the Lakers are “prominent” among the teams with interest in the Ukranian big man.

Within a discussion about possible frontcourt targets for the Lakers, Sam Vecenie of The Athletic suggests it’s worth keeping an eye on the international market too. According to Vecenie, Australian center Will Magnay, who is currently playing for the Tasmania JackJumpers, has an NBA out clause in his deal and has recently drawn interest from NBA teams.

If and when the Lakers do sign a free agent center, they’ll have to waive a player to do so, since their 15-man roster is currently full. Reporting on Monday indicated that Wood and Cam Reddish are among the team’s top release candidates. Neither one is owed any guaranteed money beyond this season.

While it sounds like the Lakers will likely add a center sooner rather than later, it’s worth noting that the club has just one more game before the All-Star break – on Wednesday vs. Utah – so if a signing hasn’t been finalized by that point, it could wait until next week.

Jahlil Okafor Signs 10-Day Contract With Pacers

February 11: Okafor has officially signed his 10-day contract with the Pacers, per NBA.com’s transaction log. The deal will run through February 20, covering Indiana’s next three games and paying Okafor a $150,179 salary.


February 10: Veteran big man Jahlil Okafor is signing a 10-day contract with the Pacers, NBA insider Chris Haynes tweets.

The No. 3 pick of the 2015 draft hasn’t played in the league since the 2020/21 season, when he appeared in 27 games with the Pistons. Okafor has played 247 regular season games in his career, with stints in Philadelphia, Brooklyn and New Orleans as well as Detroit. He has posted career averages of 10.4 points and 4.7 rebounds in 19.5 minutes per game.

Okafor, 29, had been toiling for the Pacers’ NBA G League team, the Indiana Mad Ants, averaging 18.6 points and 9.1 rebounds in 30 Tip-Off Tournament and regular season games. He was selected to participate in the 2025 Up Next event at the NBA’s All-Star weekend.

Okafor was on the Pacers’ training camp roster on an Exhibit 10 contract but was waived before joining their G League squad. The veteran center has also played in China, Spain and Puerto Rico in recent years.

The timing of this move calls into question whether center Alex Len still intends to sign with Indiana after clearing waivers, as has been reported. Len was expected to fill Indiana’s open roster spot. It’s unclear if he has received another offer or will perhaps sign with the Pacers after the All-Star break once Okafor’s deal expires. The club has just two more games prior to the break.

[UPDATE: Len won’t be signing with the Pacers.]

Alex Len Not Signing With Pacers

Veteran center Alex Len won’t be signing with the Pacers after all, league sources confirm to Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star.

Len, who was traded from Sacramento to Washington at the trade deadline, was cut by the Wizards on Saturday, with reporting at the time indicating that he planned to sign with Indiana after clearing waivers. Dopirak heard the same thing over the weekend, but says that deal is no longer moving forward, with Indiana having pivoted to another former lottery pick, Jahlil Okafor.

[RELATED: Jahlil Okafor To Sign 10-Day Contract With Pacers]

While Dopirak doesn’t have specific details on why the reported agreement fell through, he notes that there has been “movement” at the center position around the league in recent days, which may have “changed the dynamics” of Len’s decision. Specifically, he points to the Lakers rescinding their trade for Mark Williams as one move that created a notable opening in the middle for a team seemingly headed for a postseason berth.

It’s also worth noting that Dave McMenamin of ESPN cited sources on Monday who said Los Angeles may have pursued Len if he hadn’t agreed to sign with the Pacers. There’s no indication at this point that Len has reached an agreement with the Lakers, but they’re certainly a team worth keeping an eye on here.

The fifth overall pick in the 2013 draft, Len has been a reliable frontcourt option for 12 NBA seasons, spending time with the Suns, Hawks, Raptors, Wizards, and Kings. The 31-year-old Ukrainian has spent the last few seasons as a depth piece in Sacramento, where he made 149 appearances (15 starts) over the course of three-and-a-half seasons, averaging 3.0 points and 2.8 rebounds in 10.0 minutes per game.

Lakers Rumors: Williams, Knecht, Sims, Len, Reddish, Wood, LeBron

After acquiring Luka Doncic from Dallas at the start of trade deadline week, the Lakers targeted Hornets center Mark Williams in large part because he was “handpicked” by Doncic as the sort of big man Los Angeles’ new franchise player would thrive next to, reports Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

Team sources tell McMenamin that the Lakers viewed the 23-year-old Williams as the sort of player who could grow alongside Doncic in the long term while also fortifying L.A.’s frontcourt against Western rivals like Houston, Memphis, Denver, and Oklahoma City in the short term.

Before agreeing to trade for Williams on Wednesday night, the Lakers weighed whether he was worth the steep price it would take to acquire him, given his injury history, McMenamin writes. Head of basketball operations Rob Pelinka opted to pull the trigger, deciding on an “all in” approach to the deadline and agreeing to send Dalton Knecht, Cam Reddish, a 2031 first-round pick, and a 2030 pick swap to the Hornets for Williams.

As one Lakers source tells ESPN, Williams’ fit was viewed as a necessity on a roster lacking a starting-caliber center, while Knecht’s was considered a luxury, and the club wanted to establish “goodwill” with Doncic to get the relationship on the right foot. There was also some internal debate on how valuable the Lakers’ 2031 pick would end up actually being.

After making the deal with Charlotte, Pelinka expressed confidence when he talked about the deal on Thursday that Williams’ health wouldn’t be an issue going forward: “We fully vetted [Williams’] health stuff. He’s had no surgeries. So these are just parts of, he’s still growing into his body. We vetted the injuries he’s had, and we’re not concerned about those.”

However, after getting him into the building and conducting a physical, the Lakers identified additional concerns with Williams’ health and ultimately decided to pull out of the trade.

As McMenamin writes, there are some people within the Lakers who expressed relief that the deal didn’t end up going through — one team source said the package was “a lot” to give up for Williams and suggested the club “kind of dodged a bullet.” But the voiding of the trade meant that the Lakers failed in their first attempt to satisfy Doncic and will need to repair their relationship with Knecht, according to McMenamin, who adds that there’s a “perception of fumbled execution” based on how the process played out.

“Nobody did the research prior?” one league source said to ESPN. “Why would [Williams] be available that young?”

Here’s more on the Lakers:

  • The Lakers considered a trade for Knicks big man Jericho Sims before he was sent to Milwaukee and might have had interest in Alex Len, who has agreed to sign with Indiana after being waived by Washington, sources tell McMenamin. Neither big man would’ve been a clear upgrade on the club’s current options, but they’re two more depth options who are now off the board.
  • Although the Lakers have a full 15-man roster, they still have enough room below their second-apron hard cap to waive a player to bring in another big man. In that scenario, Reddish and Christian Wood would likely be the top candidates to be cut, Lakers sources tell ESPN. “We will find another center path,” a team source told McMenamin. “The path is always there. We just got to put in the work to find it.”
  • With Williams not coming to Los Angeles, Jaxson Hayes figures to continue starting at center for the Lakers. LeBron James had “privately wondered” whether the 24-year-old was experienced enough to take on that role down the stretch and in the playoffs, sources tell McMenamin. Hayes is off to a solid start — the Lakers have won each of his last seven starts, including all five games since Jan. 30. He also should have Doncic’s support. According to McMenamin, Hayes – who shares an agent, Bill Duffy, with the former Mavs star – was the first Laker to go out for dinner with Doncic after he arrived in L.A.
  • “When (Doncic) was in Dallas and I was in New Orleans my first few years, they kept trying to trade for me,” Hayes told McMenamin. “New Orleans never allowed it. He was like, ‘Do you remember when we couldn’t trade for you?’ I was like, ‘Do you remember what I told you after every game I played against you?’ After every game I would be like, ‘If you ever need a big, I would love to play with you.’ Just because of the way he moves the ball.”
  • It “wasn’t lost on James’ camp,” sources tell ESPN, that Pelinka sought Doncic’s input and pursued a trade target he wanted immediately after his arrival. For years, LeBron has wanted the Lakers’ to trade future draft picks to upgrade their roster, McMenamin notes.

Alex Len Waived By Wizards, Will Sign With Pacers

9:31pm: Len has been placed on waivers, the Wizards announced (via Twitter).


1:12pm: After acquiring him earlier this week, the Wizards will cut center Alex Len, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). According to Charania, Len intends to sign with the Pacers after he clears waivers.

The fifth overall pick in the 2013 draft, Len never became the sort of impact player his lofty draft position might suggest, but he has been a reliable frontcourt option for 12 NBA seasons, spending time with the Suns, Hawks, Raptors, Wizards, and Kings.

The 31-year-old Ukrainian has spent the last few seasons as a depth piece in Sacramento, where he made 149 appearances (15 starts) over the course of three-and-a-half seasons, averaging 3.0 points and 2.8 rebounds in 10.0 minutes per game.

Len was sent from the Kings to the Wizards along with Colby Jones in a three-team deadline-day deal that saw the Kings receive Jake LaRavia from Memphis. Despite trading away big men Jonas Valanciunas and Marvin Bagley III this week, Washington didn’t feel the need to retain Len, who will get an opportunity to join a playoff-bound team in the East.

The Pacers opened the season with Isaiah Jackson and James Wiseman backing up starting center Myles Turner, but both reserves suffered Achilles tears during the season’s opening days, decimating the team’s depth in the middle.

Although Indiana traded for Thomas Bryant in December, the club could still use some another trustworthy veteran option as injury insurance, especially with Turner currently dealing with a neck strain.

The Pacers sent Wiseman to Toronto in a salary dump trade on Thursday, which both opened up a spot on their 15-man roster and created enough room below the luxury tax line to sign Len to a rest-of-season contract. As ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter), Indiana was only $147K below the tax threshold before making that deal.