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With a 15-man roster limit, every team has to cut players in training camp, and the Los Angeles Lakers are not exception. The team announced in a press release that thye have parted ways with undrafted free agents Zach Auguste, Julian Jacobs, and Travis Wear.
Wear and Jacobs are interesting D-League candidates who never appeared to have a huge chance to make the roster, but even after a strong showing at Las Vegas Summer League that seemed to point towards some momentum to make the team, Auguste being among the first to go is hardly surprising.
The Notre Dame product did not play a second of action in the Lakers’ first four preseason games. He was seemingly beat out for minutes by last-second training camp signing Thomas Robinson, who is older and of a higher pedigree as a former lottery selection, not to mention boasting a similar skillset as an energy guy.
Auguste has value, and could end up following a similar path to the league as Tarik Black (a similar player), who was scooped up the Lakers off of waivers after the Houston Rockets cut him.
If no team swoops in on Auguste, Wear, or Jacobs, the Los Angeles D-Fenders would hold their D-League rights, meaning the Lakers could keep a close eye on their development right inside their practice facility, and eventually even call any of them back up to the parent team if the injury bug hits. It sounds like that’s what the team would like:
Luke Walton said he would love to see Travis Wear, Julian Jacobs and Zach Auguste, who were waived today, on the D-Fenders.
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) October 12, 2016
In that scenario, any other NBA team could also call them up if they play especially well.
These moves leave the Lakers with 17 players, and the team still has at least two more cuts to make as they trim their roster down to at most 15 players before the start of training camp.
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