{"id":60905,"date":"2024-01-06T15:00:20","date_gmt":"2024-01-06T20:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=60905"},"modified":"2024-01-06T15:00:20","modified_gmt":"2024-01-06T20:00:20","slug":"lakers-sign-g-league-record-breaker-to-two-way-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/01\/06\/lakers-sign-g-league-record-breaker-to-two-way-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Sign G-League Record Breaker to Two-Way Contract"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Lakers are currently 18th in rebounds per game (43.5) and 24th in three-point percentage (35.1%)\u2014two aspects of what\u2019s plagued them to a 17-19 record. While there are multiple ways to address those woes, they\u2019ve taken a small step towards developing someone who can help them in the near future.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The purple and gold signed former first-round pick <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/windldy01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Dylan Windler<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to a two-way contract, one day after he broke the G League record with 33 rebounds for the Westchester Knicks.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">G League G\/F Dylan Windler has agreed on a two-way contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, Mark Bartelstein and Andy Shiffman of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PrioritySports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@PrioritySports<\/a> tell ESPN. Windler had a 23-point, 33-rebound performance on Friday for the Knicks\u2019 Westchester affiliate. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JXWAsnJ212\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/JXWAsnJ212<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wojespn\/status\/1743693572820393990?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 6, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Los Angeles Lakers will waive Alex Fudge in order to sign Dylan Windler to a two-way contract, sources told ESPN. As <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wojespn?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@wojespn<\/a> first reported, LAL is bringing in the 6-6 wing who has shot 37.8% from 3 in his G League career.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Dave McMenamin (@mcten) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mcten\/status\/1743707160268415380?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 6, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2><b>Lakers Sign G-League Record Breaker to Two-Way Contract<\/b><\/h2>\n<h3><b>Background<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Windler, a 27-year-old wing from Belmont College, entered the NBA as the 26th pick by the Cavaliers in 2020. In 31 games for Cleveland, he averaged 5.2 points and 3.5 rebounds on .438\/.338\/.778 splits. His next few seasons saw his role decrease with the Cavs while spending more time with their G League affiliate, the Cleveland Charge. Windler quickly embraced his role with the Charge, averaging 15.3 points on 39% shooting from deep in the 2021-22 season. He followed that up with a career-best 40% from three and averages of 12.2 points and 5.9 rebounds in 11 games last year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over the summer, Windler had signed a two-way contract with the New York Knicks and had his deal converted to a standard one in October. However, the Knicks waived Windler on Dec. 13, forcing him to spend time with their affiliate, the Westchester Knicks. Windler quickly continued his reputation as a reliable shooter and rebounder there. He certainly lived up to the hype last night, recording the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/4abXWtzYNCo?si=Gprn6GbG9g_oB-HO\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">aforementioned 23 points and 33 rebounds<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in a loss to the Capital City Go-Go, 128-121.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>What Dylan Windler Brings to the Table<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Though he may not get rotation opportunities at first glance, Windler provides a unique blend of scoring and rebounding for the Lakers. He went 5\/5 from three for <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/hiIdvf7_SPA?si=wBogDYPZlNginNyD\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">15 points against the Hawks<\/span><\/a>\u00a0as a rookie<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and has had impressive performances in the G League since then. His ability to crash the boards goes back to his days at Belmont, where he ended his senior year with an average of 10.8 per game. After his historic performance last night, Windler&#8217;s rebounding average this season soared to 14.3.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Windler is also able to be disruptive on the defensive end, thanks in part to his <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/hoopshype.com\/dylan-windler-scouting-report\/#:~:text=Great%20wingspan%20of%206%2Dfoot,the%20rim%20and%20can%20finish%E2%80%A6\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">6-foot-10 wingspan<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that complements his 6-foot-6 frame. He averaged one steal per game in the G League\u2014tallying 26 over his four seasons there.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Early on, the young forward will have a chance to grow his skills with the South Bay Lakers. However, he could very well move up to the big club, given the Lakers\u2019 mediocre bench play and the team\u2019s overall struggles. Adding a fresh, young player to the mix will do some good for a team that\u2019s looked lethargic and out of place recently. Incorporating Windler into the Lakers\u2019 style of play shouldn\u2019t be a problem, since he has attributes that the team clearly values already.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Lakers are currently 18th in rebounds per game (43.5) and 24th in three-point percentage (35.1%)\u2014two aspects of what\u2019s plagued them to a 17-19 record. While there are multiple ways to address those woes, they\u2019ve taken a small step towards developing someone who can help them in the near future. The purple and gold signed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":60907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_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":[1954,1332,4937,1777],"class_list":["post-60905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","tag-dylan-windler","tag-nba-g-league","tag-south-bay-lakers","tag-westchester-knicks"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60905","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=60905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}