Lakers re-sign Sekou Doumbouya to two-way contract, waive Jay Huff

The Lakers have agreed to a two-way deal with Sekou Doumbouya, the team announced on Wednesday morning. In a corresponding move to open up a two-way contract, the team waived big man Jay Huff.

Doumbouya joins Mason Jones as the Lakers’ current two-way signees.

Doumbouya was previously a two-way player for the Lakers this season after he started the season in Brooklyn before being waived. However, a foot injury left Doumbouya unavailable to play and with the Lakers dealing with their own injury crisis for much of the season, the team opted to waive Doumbouya and sign Chaundee Brown at the time.

In the multiple months since then, the Lakers roster has continued to undergo changes both in construction and in philosophy. The team’s commitment to a small ball philosophy paired with Doumbouya returning to full health led to the Lakers bringing him back in while parting ways with Huff.

Despite all the injury woes both before and during the team’s COVID outbreak this season, Huff saw extremely limited time on the court. Huff has played just four games this season, three of those coming in a one-week span amidst the team’s COVID outbreak in mid-December. Still, none of those appearances came outside of garbage time.

An athletic forward that has flashed potential, Doumbouya makes more sense for the Lakers roster going forward than Huff, on top of him also simply being a better player and prospect. Still just 21 years old and in his third season in the league, Doumbouya has the possibility of becoming a contributor still in his career. The Lakers have already struck gold in a similar manner by bringing in Stanley Johnson this season and watching him turn into a contributor.

While the expectations are much, much lower for Doumbouya — who only played in two games this season for the purple and gold — there process makes sense for a Lakers team embracing small ball moving forward.

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