{"id":94786,"date":"2024-09-08T11:18:32","date_gmt":"2024-09-08T15:18:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=94786"},"modified":"2024-09-08T11:18:32","modified_gmt":"2024-09-08T15:18:32","slug":"nba-cedi-osman-turning-down-lakers-camp-invite-speaks-volumes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/08\/nba-cedi-osman-turning-down-lakers-camp-invite-speaks-volumes\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Veteran Turning Down Lakers Camp Invite Speaks Volumes"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Lakers probably aren\u2019t used to this amount of rejection, with Cedi Osman<\/a> the latest player to turn down an offer from them. According to Eurohoops\u2019 Nikola Miroradovic, Osman \u201creceived interest from<\/a> the (Lakers), which invited him for a training camp\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead the seven-year NBA veteran opted to return to Europe, signing with Greece\u2019s Panathinaikos<\/a>. His decision was attributed to \u201cthe lack of guarantees about making it to the season roster\u2026\u201d Osman, a native of North Macedonia, played for Turkey\u2019s Anadolu Efes for four seasons prior to being drafted.<\/p>\n

Cedi Osman Turning Down Lakers Camp Invite Speaks Volumes<\/h2>\n

The Lakers currently have 15 players on standard NBA contracts, three players on two-way contracts, and three players on Exhibit 10 contracts. As a result, in order to sign Osman, tough decisions would\u2019ve had to be made. However, looking at their roster, it\u2019s worth wondering whether L.A. should\u2019ve done just that.<\/p>\n

Christian Wood<\/a>, Jaxson Hayes<\/a>, and Cam Reddish<\/a> are all on low-salary expiring deals. As none of them are really essential players individually, perhaps one of them would\u2019ve gotten the axe. They might\u2019ve been able to move one of Jalen Hood-Schifino<\/a> or Maxwell Lewis<\/a>. As they\u2019re both on rookie scale contracts, a team with a roster spot and a trade exception or cap space could\u2019ve simply absorbed their salary. Players who haven\u2019t shown much thus far in their careers, the Lakers may not have lost anything by moving them.<\/p>\n

At this point in their careers, Osman is a better player than Reddish, Hood-Schifino, and Lewis. He may offer more than Hayes as well. Wood, who averaged 16.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game in the four seasons prior to joining L.A. is the only aforementioned player that he may not top.<\/p>\n

He Didn\u2019t Help There\u2026<\/h3>\n

Looking at their positional needs, Wood and Hayes are clearly rostered for the depth they offer at center. To that point, the Lakers\u2019 starting center \u2014Anthony Davis<\/a> \u2014isn\u2019t even a true pivot. At 6-foot-7 and 230 pounds, Osman may be nearly the same size as Wood. Nonetheless, he\u2019s a wing, not a big man. Consequently, it does make sense for them to have been safe.<\/p>\n

But He Did Help Here<\/h3>\n

Reddish and Lewis are there as 3-and-D archetypes.<\/p>\n

Once regarded as a potential star, Reddish has struggled to do more than flash offensively. Thus, he\u2019s been asked to simplify his game, doing far less work off-the-dribble. Unfortunately, this hasn\u2019t really led to much improvement, as he shot 38.9 percent from the field and 33.6 percent from 3 in 2023-24. He made just 32.4 percent of his catch-and-shoot 3s. With that being said, he does have a knack for making defensive plays.<\/p>\n

Lewis is a curious case, as he\u2019s made just 35.6 percent of his 3s in college, 35.6 percent of his 3s in the G League, 18.9 percent of his 3s in Summer League, and 11.1 percent of his 3s with the Lakers. He has plenty of time to develop at 22 years old. Nonetheless, he may not be suited for the 3-and-D role he\u2019s being asked to play.<\/p>\n

As a career 35.7 percent 3-point shooter, Osman isn\u2019t exactly OG Anunoby<\/a> out there. However, he\u2019s made 37.9 percent of his 3s the last two seasons. In 2023-24, he made 41.0 percent of his catch-and-shoot 3s. He\u2019s also a commendable defender thanks to his technique and tenacity.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no use in crying over spilled milk, but players may not be the only people<\/a> souring on the Lakers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Lakers probably aren\u2019t used to this amount of rejection, with Cedi Osman the latest player to turn down an offer from them. According to Eurohoops\u2019 Nikola Miroradovic, Osman \u201creceived interest from the (Lakers), which invited him for a training camp\u2026\u201d Instead the seven-year NBA veteran opted to return to Europe, signing with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":94788,"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":[26,1608,62,3],"tags":[1683,1715,3145,4829,297,49503],"class_list":["post-94786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lakers","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-cam-reddish","tag-cedi-osman","tag-christian-wood","tag-maxwell-lewis","tag-nba-free-agency","tag-nba-training-camp"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94786","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\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}