Los Angeles is keeping the player after half of a season in 2022/23; parts agreed on a 4-year, $48M deal
While the NBA is in offseason, teams are working on their roster for the next season. With the regular season starting in about one month, the Los Angeles Lakers are extending Jarred Vanderbilt on a four-year, $48 million deal. The franchise and the player agreed on a new contract a few weeks before the beginning of training camp.
Vanderbilt, 24, was acquired from the Utah Jazz in a flurry of moves that Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka orchestrated near the trade deadline last season. He was a key piece in Los Angeles’ late-season push to the play-in tournament through the Western Conference finals.
The player averaged 7.2 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 26 games (24 starts) after joining the Lakers. He was often asked by Lakers coach Darvin Ham to guard the opposing team’s most lethal offensive threat. Throughout his career, Vanderbilt played 244 games, averaging 6.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.0 steals.
Before playing the 2022/23 split between the Utah Jazz and the Los Angeles Lakers, the player wore two other uniforms during his five-year career. He played one and a half seasons for the Denver Nuggets, the team that drafted him in 2018. Also, he spent two and a half seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Vanderbilt has 21 double-doubles in his career, including 10 last season (three with the Lakers).
Next season
As mentioned, the regular season starts in around one month. Before that the teams have their training camp scheduled to the end of the month and the preseason games during the beginning of October. The season opener game is scheduled for October 24.
Current champions Denver Nuggets will host the first game as they hold the ring ceremony. And the opponents that night will be exactly the Los Angeles Lakers. Later that night the Golden State Warriors also host the Phoenix Suns, closing the two-game opening night slate.
