Even after the Los Angeles Lakers signed undrafted rookie Jonathan Holmes to a deal earlier this week, they are still looking for more depth and competition for when training camp opens up. The Lakers currently have 14 players on the roster who are virtual locks to make the team plus Holmes, but they have recently been working out players so that there is competition for that 15th roster spot. The most recent player to work out for the Lakers is reportedly Jeremy Tyler, according to Pro Basketball Reporter David Pick.
Tyler most recently played for Shanxi Zhongyu in China, where he averaged 22.1 points and 11.2 rebounds per game in 41 contests with the club. Prior to last season, Tyler had been in the NBA for three seasons getting very little playing time with the Golden State Warriors and the New York Knicks. This summer, the 24-year-old joined the Dallas Mavericks summer league roster and had a good six game stretch averaging 11.8 points and 8.3 rebounds per game.
Tyler made a particularly good impression on the Lakers during the summer league when he dropped 25 points and 11 rebounds on them plus hitting the game winning shot, which could have led to this work out. Tyler was previously in training camp with the Lakers prior to last season but Los Angeles waived him right before the season started, so now he is getting a second chance to impress the organization.
Tyler is a 6-foot-10 center who was drafted in the second round of the 2011 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Bobcats. He has yet to really make an impact in the NBA, but he is still young and is coming off of a dominant season in China, so now might be a better time than ever for him to crack a roster and potentially make an impact for a team. There is no indication as to whether the Lakers will give Tyler a deal, as he is one of many players to have reportedly worked out for the Lakers in the past week.
In 104 games, Tyler has career NBA averages of 3.6 points and 2.6 rebounds in 9.9 minutes per game on 45 percent shooting from the field.
