The Lakers have now officially signed undrafted free agent rookie Zach Auguste, inviting him to camp and moving the roster to 16 players
Essentially the entire point of the NBA Summer League beyond getting young draft picks repetitions is to try and scout talent. In theory, teams invite players to see if they believe those guys can help the team in the regular season or down the road in any way. One such player with the Los Angeles Lakers at Summer League was forward Zach Auguste.
Auguste went undrafted coming out of Notre Dame, where he spent four years with the program. However, that he went unselected in June’s draft was shocking to some. Auguste proved in college that he had admirable energy in addition to leadership and rebounding attributes worthy of writing home about. Thus, it was only a matter of time before the Lakers invited him to Summer League.
Now Auguste has parlayed those two weeks in Las Vegas into a viable shot at an NBA roster. As of Monday afternoon, the Lakers have signed Zach Auguste officially. As this was reported by the team, the terms of the deal have not yet been released:
OFFICIAL: Lakers Sign Zach Auguste - https://t.co/ensVcF2TRi
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) August 29, 2016
Not that it was necessary, but Auguste confirmed the signing on his own account:
https://twitter.com/ZachEliAuguste/status/770389212512124929
Signing Auguste now brings the Lakers roster for training camp to 16 players. That’s interesting for a number of reason. Chiefly, that means that someone on the roster right now isn’t going to be with the Lakers in the regular season.
While you could assume that only means that Nick Young is out the door in Los Angeles, there are other options. This signing of Auguste could essentially serve as a D-League addition. They could like his prospects for the future, but want him to get some burn with the D-Fenders this season.
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Either way, things are taking a clearer shape for training camp now. For those of us going through NBA withdrawals, just remember that means that the season is inching closer and closer.