Lakers waive Malik Newman, freeing up second two-way contract

The Los Angeles Lakers announced they have waived Malik Newman on Thursday. Newman was one of the Lakers’ two players on a two-way contract, along with Alex Caruso, and played for Los Angeles during both of the Sacramento and Las Vegas summer leagues.

Newman, who played one season at Kansas after transferring from Mississippi State, averaged 3.2 points in 9.8 minutes per game over five summer league appearances for the Lakers.

By waiving Newman, the Lakers have freed up a second two-way contract that they could offer to one of the two undrafted free agents they’re bringing to training camp so far (Joel Berry II or Jeffrey Carroll) or a player they haven’t signed yet. Carroll is on an Exhibit 10 contract, which the Lakers are allowed to convert to a two-way contract during training camp.

Waiving Newman was a somewhat unexpected move given that he was relatively well-regarded heading into the draft, but evidently his lackluster summer league play during the Lakers’ run to their second straight championship game wasn’t enough to secure him a roster spot.

As a player on a two-way contract, Newman would have spent time going back and forth between the South Bay Lakers in the G League and spending up to 45 days in the NBA with the Lakers on a pro-rated NBA salary, a role whoever his replacement is will now fill.

With Newman’s dismissal, the Lakers now have 17 players signed heading into training camp with 14 guaranteed contracts and one two-way contract, meaning they can give out one more of each before the start of the regular season.

Who they use to fill both spots is one of the final interesting storylines to watch this summer, so stay tuned to Silver Screen and Roll for more coverage throughout the offseason.

All stats per NBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com. You can follow Harrison Faigen on Twitter at @hmfaigen.