Los Angeles Lakers sign V.J. Beachem, Stephen Zimmerman

The Los Angeles Lakers are continuing to fill out their roster for training camp as they signed V.J. Beachem and Stephen Zimmerman.

The Los Angeles Lakers have been busy the last couple of weeks filling out the end of their roster. Los Angeles signed Las Vegas Summer League standout, Vander Blue, to a partially guaranteed deal. He will be joined in the backcourt by Briante Weber, who also signed a partially guaranteed deal.

After signing Weber, the Lakers roster stood at 17 players, including Alex Caruso, who was signed to a two-way deal during Summer League. For the offseason and training camp, teams are allowed to have 20 players on the roster. The Lakers moved closer to that maximum today.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski, the Lakers have signed small forward V.J. Beachem and center Stephen Zimmerman to partially guaranteed, training camp deals. He reported the news on his Twitter account.

Notre Dame forward V.J. Beachem has agreed to a partial guarantee with the Los Angeles Lakers, league source tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 9, 2017

7-foot Stephen Zimmerman, 20, will sign for a partial guarantee to join Lakers training camp, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 9, 2017

Beachem went undrafted in the 2017 NBA Draft. He played four years collegiately at Notre Dame and played during the Las Vegas Summer League with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

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Beachem struggled with the Timberwolves during Summer League play. He didn’t receive much playing time, as he averaged 9.5 minutes per game. He made only 14.3 percent of his shots in Las Vegas and missed all five of his three-point shots.

It was a very disappointing performance for someone who was a more than capable three-point shooting in college. Three-point shooting was actually Beachem’s strength at Notre Dame, where he was a 39.2 percent shooter from deep. As a senior, Beachem averaged 14.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 0.7 assists, 0.6 steals and 1.1 blocks per game.

Beachem will have his work cut out for him if he wants to make the Lakers roster. They are deep at small forward, where Brandon Ingram is entrenched as the starter. The Lakers also have Larry Nance Jr., Corey Brewer, and Luol Deng available to play minutes at small forward.

Zimmerman will also have a tough time making the roster. Center is arguably the deepest, most talented position on the team. Brook Lopez is locked in as the starter right now with Ivica Zubac as the main backup. The Lakers also used their second round pick on Indiana center, Thomas Bryant.

Zimmerman was a second round pick of the Orlando Magic, as he was selected 41st overall in the 2017 NBA Draft. He declared for the draft after his freshman year at UNLV. Zimmerman appeared in only 19 games with the Magic last season, playing only 108 minutes all season.

He didn’t stand out too much in Summer Leagues this year either. He played with the Magic in Orlando and played for the Milwaukee Bucks in Las Vegas. Zimmerman didn’t receive much playing time at either spot, playing just over 103 minutes in seven games, two of which were starts.

Zimmerman does have potential offensively. He showed well in the pick-and-roll with UNLV and has the shooting touch to develop a reliable jump shot; he just needs an opportunity to develop and showcase it. It was not too long ago that Zimmerman was a top-10 recruit out of high school, so the potential is there.

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Could the Lakers be that landing spot for Zimmerman? They have depth in the front court, but he could be the player that lands the second two-way deal that the Lakers have to offer. Training camp will have a number of battles to keep an eye on as competition should be fierce in a few weeks once things get underway.