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Although the Los Angeles Lakers signed a slew of wings this summer — Quentin Grimes, Ziaire Williams, Matisse Thybulle — to pair with incumbents such as Jake LaRavia and Jarred Vanderbilt, it doesn’t feel like most of the minutes are spoken for yet. There should be an opportunity for plenty of candidates to stake their claim and bolster Los Angeles’ rotation.
Among those hoping to do so is second-year forward Adou Thiero. Selected 36th overall in the 2025 NBA Draft, Thiero played sparingly as a rookie, logging just 183 minutes across the regular season and playoffs. He did, however, flash imposing athleticism and dominant interior scoring during his South Bay Lakers stint.
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In seven regular season G League games, he averaged 15.4 points on 74.6 percent true shooting (62 percent on 2-pointers). In three Tip-Off Tournament games, he averaged 15.0 points on 73.7 percent true shooting (66.7 percent on 2-pointers).
Thiero hardly played in year one partly due to separate knee injuries. Swelling in his left knee caused him to miss all of preseason and the first 13 games of the regular season while a sprained MCL in his right knee sidelined him for six weeks from late December to mid-February. But Thiero is healthy now and head coach JJ Redick said this prolonged stretch of availability this summer has done wonders.
“Adou has had an unbelievable last two months of development,” Redick told reporters Thursday. “It’s the first stretch he’s had since we’ve drafted him where he’s had uninterrupted time in the gym and his body’s been in great shape and he’s just gotten better.”
Much of the Lakers’ projected rotation isn’t particularly athletic, so if Thiero can break through, he’d provide a welcomed, novel dynamic with his speed, strength and above-the-rim finishing.
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We’ll have a better idea of just how much his healthy summer might pay off when the Lakers begin their preseason slate Oct. 5 against the Sacramento Kings.
You can follow Jackson on Twitter at @jackfrank_jjf.
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/jj-redick-says-adou-thiero-170000225.html
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Publish date : 2026-09-25 17:00:00
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