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The Los Angeles Lakers front office didn’t take a break to wait until NBA free agency once the 2018 NBA Draft was over. The team started a flurry of roster activity starting in the wee hours of the morning, and their latest signing is undrafted forward Johnathan Williams.
Bill Oram of the Athletic was the first to report that the Lakers were adding the senior forward from Gonzaga to their roster for summer league.
Williams was one of six players to work out for the Lakers on Thursday, May 31 and obviously made enough of an impression on the team’s brass and coaching staff to earn an invite to Las Vegas and Sacramento.
Unranked on Johnathan Givony’s list of the top-100 prospects in the 2018 NBA Draft, Williams joins the Lakers after a four year career with the Bulldogs that saw him average 13.4 points and 8.5 rebounds on 56.3 percent shooting.
Given his relatively low regard as a prospect, Williams seems unlikely to make much of an impact on the Lakers’ final roster, especially given that they also recently signed Malik Newman, Joel Berry II and Jeffrey Carroll in undrafted free agency. However, players with less pedigree (like David Nwaba) have overcome the odds to unexpectedly make an impact on the Lakers’ roster, so Williams is worth keeping an eye on, even if he ultimately ends up in the G League for a while.
All stats per sports-reference.com. A full list of every prospect we know the Lakers have worked out is available here. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.