The Los Angeles Lakers have angled their approach to the rest of the season towards development for their young players and evaluating the youth in the organization. With this focus, they signed D-Fender wing David Nwaba to a 10-day contract to see if the success he had in with the team’s D-League affiliate could translate to the next level.
So far, so good for the undrafted L.A. native.
Nwaba has played extremely well defensively and has provided a spark off the bench for the team due to his high energy level and hard-working attitude. It also helps that his best quality as a player is the very thing the Lakers lack most. All season long they have been searching for a wing defender to step up and be a dependable option on that end, and thus far, their best option in that role has been Nick Young so, yeah…
Luke Walton has been vocal in the way he feels about Nwaba getting an extended look and even made it a point of emphasis to get Nwaba more minutes in the last few games.
Luke Walton likes @dnwaba0's play thus far. No decision made if Lakers will give him another 10-day, but Luke said he's earned it
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) March 8, 2017
As a result, the team announced on Saturday that they have signed Nwaba to a second 10-day contract.
Once his second 10-day contract is up, the Lakers will have to make the choice of signing him for the rest of the season or sending him back down to the D-League as this will be his last available 10-day. But this may not be the last player the Lakers decide to give an opportunity to as Luke Walton told Mark Medina of the Orange County Register that the team wants to look at some other players as well.
Time will tell if they end up going with that plan but for now, they are taking an extended evaluation of David Nwaba and if he can continue his strong defensive presence, he might just stick around.
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