Lakers guard Adou Thiero has shown progress during Vegas Summer League action, averaging 17.5 points and 4.0 rebounds in the last two games. Thiero appeared in 25 NBA contests during his rookie season but only averaged six minutes per game.

“He took what was in front of him. He attacked matchups,” Summer League coach Ty Abbott said, per Benjamin Royer of the Orange County Register. “He understood that there was gonna be some paint swarming; those guys were gonna try and flood and meet him at the rim. And he made the right pass. And when he started doing that, it started to open up for him, and he was able to finish at the rim.”

Thiero needs to show enough in the upcoming regular season to ensure the Lakers exercise their $2,525,901 option next offseason on his 2027/28 contract.

Here’s more on the Lakers:

• Location had a lot to do with Kevon Looney‘s decision to join the Lakers, he told Mark Medina of FadeawayWorld.net. “I knew I was going to be a free agent. I looked at the landscape of free agency and where there was an opportunity where I could play,” he said. “A few teams called looking for a backup big. LA is a place that I come to all the time. I’m here a lot of the times. I got a lot of friends and family. So to have the opportunity to join the Lakers, I couldn’t turn that down.” Looney, who played for New Orleans last season, agreed to a one-year, veteran’s minimum contract.
• Summer League invitee Arthur Kaluma, who played for the G League’s South Bay Lakers last season, erupted for 34 points in a Vegas contest against Dallas on Saturday night. He was 11 for 16 from the field and made six of 10 3-point tries. Kaluma, who went undrafted last year, took advantage of extended playing time with first-round pick Cameron Carr sidelined by a right thumb contusion. “The G can get grimey, you know what I’m saying? It’s a time where everybody is trying to fight for a position and there is a certain hunger that you have to have in order to be successful in the G,” Kaluma told Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times. “And I feel like that drive that I had my first year in it pushed me into this summer to really get better and work on my game and come here and have the opportunity to perform.”
• Austin Reaves admits it will be strange not having LeBron James on the team next season, Khobi Price of the California Post tweets. “I don’t know if I’ve honestly processed it yet,” he said. “I mean, I kind of was thinking about it last night when I got here. Starting a season without him being on the team is going to be different for me. It’s kind of all I’ve ever known…But, that’s his decision. I’ve got nothing but love and respect for him.”