The Los Angeles Lakers may not be making a Russell Westbrook trade before the season but the team can still add to the roster before the 2022-23 season officially begins. Los Angeles has one more roster spot that can be utilized, giving the team some options to explore.
While the Lakers have not made a trade, the team could be directly benefitting from another NBA trade. The Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder agreed to an eight-player trade that was centered around the cap. Deals of this nature often lead to bought-out and waived players for other teams to bring in.
We already broke down one potential buyout target that could hit the market in the near future, as well as a new free-agent wing that LA could bring in. That is not all, as another player was just given the ax following this trade, opening the door for a potential future in the purple and gold.
The Houston Rockets have waived Ty Jerome.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) October 1, 2022
Why Ty Jerome could make a lot of sense for the Los Angeles Lakers:
First of all, we know that Los Angeles is desperately thin when it comes to wings and Ty Jerome would help bolster some of that depth… kind of. Jerome is a six-foot-five two-guard and while the Lakers are guard-heavy, it would at least add another option with some size to play at the three alongside the likes of Lonnie Walker and Juan Toscano-Anderson.
Jerome is not coming off of a great season with the Oklahoma City Thunder but the potential is certainly there in the 25-year-old. All we have to do is look back to Jerome’s 2020-21 season to see what he can bring to the table as a role player off the bench.
In that seaosn, Jerome shot 42.3% from beyond the arc. It is not like Jerome was shooting as a small clip, either, as he averaged 5.2 attempts per game. That made Jerome one of just nine players in the league that season to attempt five or more threes per game and shoot 42% or better.
Granted, Jerome did only play 33 games that season, so it still was not a big sample size. He still was one of only 19 players in the league that season to attempt 160 or more threes and make them at a 42% or better clip.
Plus, Jerome has a really good track record from his college days. Jerome was a standout during Virginia’s National Championship run and in three years with the Cavaliers he shot a combined 39.2% on 424 attempts.
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It is no secret that Los Angeles seriously lacks three-point shooting. If Los Angeles does not want to give the roster spot to one of bigger shooters on the roster (Cole Swider, Matt Ryan) then Ty Jerome would be a solid alternative.