{"id":52074,"date":"2023-07-26T21:58:56","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T01:58:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=52074"},"modified":"2023-07-26T21:58:56","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T01:58:56","slug":"los-angeles-lakers-sign-alex-fudge-to-two-way-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/07\/26\/los-angeles-lakers-sign-alex-fudge-to-two-way-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Lakers Sign Alex Fudge to Two-Way Contract"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/teams\/LAL\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Los Angeles Lakers<\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> continued to add to their roster on Wednesday, signing <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cbb\/players\/alex-fudge-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Alex Fudge<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to a two-way contract and waiving <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/swideco01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Cole Swider<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Lakers Sign Alex Fudge to Two-Way Contract<\/h2>\n<h3>Alex Fudge&#8217;s Career<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A wiry and athletic forward, the six-foot-eight Fudge showed signs of promise despite an underwhelming college career. After transferring from LSU to Florida, he averaged 5.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in 19 minutes per contest with the Gators. His 40\/23\/59 shooting splits don\u2019t jump off the page, either. However, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/shorts\/Mbi7H4o-Lls\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">his hops were on full display<\/a> during NBA Summer League.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Please just watch Alex Fudge&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/pNlgnLdqO0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/pNlgnLdqO0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Aram Cannuscio (@AC__Hoops) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AC__Hoops\/status\/1679332292630650882?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 13, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>What Alex Fudge Brings to the Lakers<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Though he may not have gotten many opportunities during Summer League\u2014only averaging 2.6 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 1 assist per game in Vegas\u2014Fudge is a project player who can thrive with the team\u2019s G League affiliate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s clear that Fudge has springs for legs and uses them to his advantage on both ends of the floor, whether protecting the paint or getting up to finish highlight plays. His play in transition is one area where he fits perfectly into the Lakers\u2019 system, as the team finished fourth in pace last season (101.92) and is looking to continue that trend with younger rotational players on this year\u2019s roster. He also showed decent floor-spacing, knocking down 15 of 62 triples (24%) in college but only two of three in Summer League. Defensively, Fudge has been solid, having collected 14 steals and 25 blocks in 32 games with Florida and a modest two steals and five blocks in Summer League.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Though his athleticism is the main highlight, the rest of Fudge\u2019s game should all come in due time with reps in the G League. For now, it\u2019s clear the Lakers brass saw something in Fudge to promote him from his <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/06\/25\/los-angeles-lakers-2023-draft-outlook\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">previously-signed Exhibit 10 contract<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Why the Lakers Waived Cole Swider<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To sign Fudge, the Lakers waived forward Swider, who averaged 15.2 points per game on 42.5% shooting from deep for LA\u2019s Summer League squad. It may seem odd that the team let go of a player specializing in one of their biggest needs, but given the number of wings on the roster, it was clear Swider wouldn\u2019t have any opportunities to contribute at the pro level. Additionally, it\u2019s been mentioned that Swider is more of a one-sided player, as his defense is far from on par with his offense. Nonetheless, shooting is at a premium in the NBA, so it may not be long before Swider winds up on another team.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>The Last Word on Alex Fudge<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Lakers signing Fudge came in as a head-scratcher, but time will tell if the move was right. The team has had previous success with their G League affiliate and overall player development, with previous players earning NBA call-ups to the Lakers or elsewhere. While Fudge is not ready to be an immediate contributor, there\u2019s no doubt that this is a solid stepping stone for his career, and a standout season in the G League could mean better opportunities for him down the line.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Los Angeles Lakers continued to add to their roster on Wednesday, signing Alex Fudge to a two-way contract and waiving Cole Swider. Lakers Sign Alex Fudge to Two-Way Contract Alex Fudge&#8217;s Career A wiry and athletic forward, the six-foot-eight Fudge showed signs of promise despite an underwhelming college career. After transferring from LSU to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":52076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,26,62],"tags":[4935,2413,4557],"class_list":["post-52074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","tag-2023-nba-summer-league","tag-cole-swider","tag-nba-offseason"],"modified_by":"Kayla Fonte","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}