The Los Angeles Lakers have lost a couple of long-tenured (long-tenured in terms of Lakers players at least) players this offseason in the form of Kyle Kuzma and Alex Caruso. Both players were the longest-tenured Lakers at the time, with that honor now belonging to, you guessed it, LeBron James who will be entering his fourth season with the Lakers.
Sadly, the team has lost another player who has been in and/or around the organization for the past couple years, as the two-way, utility big man Devontae Cacok will be heading to the Brooklyn Nets to compete for a two-way contract in The Big Apple. Shams Charania of The Athletic first reported the news, with Cacok himself seemingly confirming the news in his own Tweet.
Former Lakers forward Devontae Cacok will sign with the Brooklyn Nets, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. The 6-foot-7 forward will go to training camp and compete for an open two-way spot.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 17, 2021
— Devontae Cacok (@Vontae__15) September 17, 2021
After the team signed undrafted rookies Austin Reaves and Joel Ayayi to two-way contracts, it was always going to be unlikely that Cacok returned given the fact that the team can only give two two-way contracts. Although Cacok provided good contributions to the South Bay Lakers as well as the big-boy Lakers when injuries caused his services to be needed, the 6’7” big man lacks the god-given height and size to be able to crack the Lakers’ roster. As the team’s acquisition of DeAndre Jordan sealed the deal on the team moving on from Marc Gasol, the same most likely happened with Cacok.
Funny enough, Cacok will now look to compete for a spot on the Nets’ roster to replace the Jordan in some sort of fashion.
Cacok only played one game for the Lakers in the 2019-20 season, with most of his time spent with the South Bay G-League team. In the 2020-21 season, he played 20 games for the Lakers (with one start), averaging 2.0 points and 1.6 rebounds per game in 4.9 minutes per game. He recently played for the team in the 2021 Summer League.
