The Los Angeles Lakers are padding out their roster ahead of the postseason. As the franchise announced, Tristan Thompson and Shaquille Harrison have signed on.
The Lakers Guard releasedDavid Reed and now have a full squad of 15 men. Both Thompson and Harrison are now eligible to play for the Lakers in the postseason. It is more than questionable whether the two will really see minutes at the side of LeBron James and Co.
Thompson was without a team for the entire season and worked primarily as a pundit for ESPN. The 32-year-old most recently played for the Chicago Bulls and was part of the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers’ winning team. He is expected to fill the role of third center behind Anthony Davis and Wenyen Gabriel for the Lakers, although Mo Bamba recently made his comeback after a month-long ankle injury.
Harrison, on the other hand, is a defensive guard specialist and spent the season with the Lakers G-League team. Most recently, he was with the Portland Trail Blazers on a ten-day contract, where he averaged 8.8 points and 6 assists in five games.
The Lakers ended the regular season with a record of 43-39 in seventh place in the Western Conference and will host the Minnesota Timberwolves in the play-in tournament on Wednesday night (4 a.m.). Should the Lakers win this game, the Memphis Grizzlies would wait in the first round of the playoffs.
