Wednesday Laker Workout: Wayne Ellington, Jeremy Tyler, James Nunnally, and Ronnie Price

The Lakers are very anxious to fill in a position on the roster.  Michael Beasley is the most talented free agent that has been worked out, but is asking more than the veteran minimum.  James Nunnally was announced earlier in the week. He was part of a larger group of players.

The Lakers have two roster spots remaining to fill out the maximum roster size of 15 players entering the NBA season.  Jordan Clarkson was the most recent signing for the active NBA roster.

Usually larger squads are brought into training camp for practice and try-outs.  Keith Appling was already signed into training camp.  Roscoe Smith also received a training camp invite.  Ronnie Price, Wayne Ellington, Jeremy Tyler, and James Nunnally can almost become a separate practice squad altogether.  They would just need one more paint player. It is possible that the Lakers can sign all of them to a training camp contract to field 19 players.  One more player would be needed to run two games simultaneously.  Maybe Mark Madsen would suit up.

Ronnie Price has played nine years in the league, primarily as a back up point guard known for his quickness.  His assist-to-turnover ratio has improved greatly since he started in the league.  Wayne Ellington is an athletic shooting guard.  He is an underrated finisher at the hoop and solid 3-point shooter, but lacks a mid-range game. James Nunnally has bounced around a bit between the NBDL and the NBA, while Jeremy Tyler has been a project bigman for a while now.  He is the most controversial player, bypassing his senior year of high school to play professionally overseas.

It would be great to add depth at both guard positions with Ronnie Price and Wayne Ellington.  Last year, the Lakers were scrapping for players when multiple players were out with injury.  Kendall Marshall was signed mid-season. Manny Harris got called up from the NBDL.

Xavier Henry isn’t expected to be 100% at the beginning of the season.  It would make sense to find another wing player, whether it’s Michael Beasley, James Nunnally, or Wayne Ellington.