Los Angeles Lakers announce Scotty Pippen Jr. and Cole Swider to two-way contracts

The two-way contracts for Scotty Pippen Jr. and Cole Swider have been signed by the Los Angeles Lakers. Both players will be on the Lakers’ Summer League roster, which will compete in its first game at the California Classic on Saturday.

The Lakers officially introduced several other new players on Friday. Scotty Pippen Jr. and Cole Swider, two undrafted rookies, formally signed their two-way contracts with the Lakers. One of the first to report the story was Kyle Goon from The Orange County Register, who also tweeted a link to the Lakers’ press statement.

Image Credits – Cole Swider Twitter

After working out for the Lakers, Pippen and Swider signed contracts shortly after the draft finished. Both of them spent at least three years in college, with Swider switching from Villanova to Syracuse following his junior year. Swider was the only draft candidate to participate in two workouts with the Purple and Gold.

 

Scotty Pippen Jr. played three seasons at Vanderbilt and this past season led the SEC in scoring. He purposefully spells his first name differently from his NBA Hall of Fame father. This is rather noteworthy in light of the fact that Houston Rocket’s third-round lottery pick and scoring forward Jabari Smith Jr. also competed in the same conference while playing for Auburn.

As Goon points out, the 6’9″ Swider is a shooting specialist who may end up having his two-way contract converted to a conventional NBA deal (a la Austin Reaves) if he can help the Lakers with some of their critical three-point shooting needs.

 

Beginning with the 2017–18 season, two-way contracts increased the NBA roster size from 15 to 17 players. The only players who can sign a two-way deal are those who are in their fourth NBA season or earlier. Two-way players are prohibited by law from staying with their respective NBA teams for longer than 45 days. Players who would otherwise only be competing in the G-League might use it as a stepping stone in their growth.

 

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