1:55pm: The deal is official, the Lakers announced. The team also confirmed that it used a hardship exception to add Brown without dropping anyone, so the Lakers now have 16 players.
1:19pm: The Lakers have a 10-day deal “in the works” with shooting guard Jabari Brown, as coach Byron Scott told reporters, including Bill Oram of the Orange County Register (Twitter link). Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports first reported that the Lakers planned a 10-day contract with Brown (Twitter link). It appears the Lakers are using the hardship exception they had intended to apply for so that they can add a player to their 15-man roster without dropping someone, though that’s not immediately clear. Brown has been playing for L.A’s D-League affiliate, as Wojnarowski notes.
Brown, who went undrafted out of Missouri this past June, was on the Lakers’ NBA roster during the preseason after signing a non-guaranteed training camp deal, but he played only nine minutes total during the preseason and failed to make it to opening night. The Lakers retained his D-League rights, and the first-year pro has impressed, averaging 24.4 in 34.9 minutes per game with a 39.2% three-point percentage for the L.A. D-Fenders.
The ability to add a 16th player is triggered when a team has four players who are expected to miss significant time, and when Ronnie Price joined Steve Nash, Julius Randle and Kobe Bryant among the long-term wounded for the Lakers, an opportunity sprang forth. Nick Young has also been dealing with swelling in his knee, and Scott indicated that was part of the catalyst for bringing Brown aboard, too, notes Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (Twitter link).