Lakers News: An Update On Matt Ryan's L.A. Status
It looks like new Lakers small forward Matt Ryan will be a Los Angeles Laker a little while longer!
Shams Charania of The Athletic reports that a relatively late addition to the Lakers' training camp roster, the 6'7" swingman, will stick around at least for the team's regular season opener on Tuesday against the Golden State Warriors.
This is not a wholly unsurprising development, as L.A. head coach Darvin Ham revealed after a 6-of-9 long range shooting performance that he at least thought the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga alum, currently signed to a prove-it Exhibit 9 training camp roster, merited a longer-term look for the shooting-challenged Lakers.
Ryan, 25, overall connected on 35.5% of his 6.2 three-point attempts a night during his preseason bouts. Through his five preseason contests with Los Angeles, Ryan is averaging 8.2 points and one rebound across 13.1 minutes a night.
Los Angeles's font office, led by team vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka, prioritized youth and athleticism while building out its roster in free agency over the summer following a disappointing 33-49 season, during which the team's role players were mostly older players who, while generally solid shooters, were too slow to really stop anybody on defense. Having gone the other direction entirely, the team is clearly looking to bolster its shooting with a pure long-range gunner.
Ryan has some upside, and will get a longer look while on his current non-guaranteed deal with the team. Ideally, L.A. will have enough shooting between players like Ryan, Lonnie Walker IV, Patrick Beverley, and Kendrick Nunn to spread the floor and clear lanes of attack for star forwards LeBron James and Anthony Davis, both of whom could also be borderline three-point shooting threats themselves if their robust preseason long-range numbers hold through the regular season.
