Lakers: D-Fenders Vets Talk NBA Summer League, Country Music and More
The Los Angeles Lakers D-League affiliate, the D-Fenders, opened up camp last week with 17 players on the roster
It’s a new season for the D-Fenders who just cut down their roster to 14 from 17 waiving three players. The Los Angeles D-Fenders press release stated that they, “Waived forward Dii’Jon Allen-Jordan, guard Wally Ellenson and guard Jerome Seagears, it was announced today [Nov. 4th] by General Manager Nick Mazzella.”
The final roster will eventually be cut down to ten, and that means Head Coach Coby Karl will have to decide who will make the final roster. The current 14-man roster includes eight guards, four at forward and two centers.
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That said, there’s a good chance that Ivica Zubac will probably join the team through the season and others at times like previous seasons. Last season, the D-Fenders saw 23 players at one time on the roster.
Three of the six returners, guard Vander Blue (left), forward Justin Harper (right) and point guard Josh Magette (center), sat down with the Lake Show Life to catch up with them and their journey through the D-Fenders to the NBA. We asked them a bunch of questions. All three of these players have played in the NBA for some amount of time and/or played in the NBA Summer League.
First game this Friday, going to be there @InTheFrontRowLA to watch these exciting ballers @DFenders @veezy_SQ @joshmagette @Tru_Harp32 pic.twitter.com/WPoI7q3dd1
— Shereen Rayan - Sports Broadcaster/Writer (@SportsCrazee) November 10, 2016
Last season, Vander ranked No. 2 in the D-League in average points per game at 26.2 ppg, Josh ranked No. 1 in assists at 9.2 assists per game and No. 1 with 2.2 steals per game. Justin ranked No. 4 in free throw percentage 89.1. For more information, here are their stats from last season.
| Player | G | GS | MP | FG | FG% | 3P | 3P% | 2P | 2P% | FT | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vander Blue | 48 | 48 | 38.3 | 8.6 | .440 | 1.9 | .330 | 6.7 | .484 | 7.3 | .810 | 5.0 | 3.4 | 1.8 | 0.0 | 26.3 |
| Justin Harper | 42 | 26 | 28.9 | 5.6 | .472 | 2.1 | .391 | 3.5 | .538 | 2.0 | .891 | 5.7 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 15.3 |
| Josh Magette | 45 | 45 | 38.0 | 4.0 | .390 | 1.9 | .327 | 2.2 | .469 | 1.6 | .805 | 4.5 | 9.1 | 2.4 | 0.1 | 11.5 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/9/2016.