Congratulations! The Lakers lost the draft at the age of 23: 25 points in two games, and another Reeves is released?

The Lakers have played two preseason games. The 23-year-old undrafted star R.J. Davis has shown efficient offensive firepower. He played as a substitute guard and scored in double digits in two consecutive games, and his offensive efficiency is very high. His performance surpasses Kneckett. R.J. Davis is looking at Zireves. In recent years, the Lakers have average vision for draft picks, but they are very good at picking up the bottom. Both Caruso and Reeves are masterpieces of the Lakers' bargaining.

On October 6, the Lakers lost to the Warriors 103-111, and suffered two consecutive losses in the preseason. It is worth mentioning that R.J. Davis' plus or negative value +22 is actually the first in the game. As the player on the losing side, the plus or negative value actually reached +22 and ranked first in the game. This is a very rare thing, and it can even be said to be against Tiangang. But R.J. Davis did it. It can only be said that in the 19 minutes he played, the Lakers had an absolute advantage. In this game, R.J. Davis made 1 of 2 shots, 1 of 2 three-pointers, and made 8 free throws, scoring 11 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist. In the first game, the Lakers lost to the Suns 81-103, but R.J. Davis made 5 of 8 shots, 1 of 2 three-pointers, and made all three free throws, scoring 14 points and 1 steal. In the first two preseason games, R.J. Davis averaged 12.5 points per game, shooting percentage of 60.0%, three-point shooting percentage of 50.0%, and free throw shooting percentage of 100.0%, which is extremely high offensive efficiency.

R.J. Davis is currently a training camp contract, and he will strive to obtain a formal contract or a two-way contract through training camp and preseason. The Lakers' current lineup has 14 people with regular NBA contracts, and the three two-way contract places belong to Nick Smith, Chris Mannon and Krock.

In fact, the ownership of a two-way contract is not fixed. The team can adjust before the regular season starts. If someone performs well, the two-way contract can be converted into a formal contract. But it is also possible that other players who have obtained training camp contracts will perform better, and some players with two-way contracts will be relegated by the team, cancel the two-way contracts, and free up other players with better performances.

R.J. Davis now has two directions. One is to directly attack the formal NBA contract, and the other is to squeeze out others to get a two-way contract. Judging from the current situation, R.J. Davis's performance is better than Nick Smith, who is also an outside player. Nick Smith scored 6 points and 9 points in the first two preseason games, made 5 of 13 shots and 1 of 6 three-pointers, and his offensive efficiency was far inferior to R.J. Davis. Chris Mannon did not make his debut in the first two games.

It can be said that R.J. Davis got a good start in the battle to grab the position, and he had the opportunity to hit the official contract quota. R.J. Davis is an older rookie. Last season, he averaged 17.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.0 steals per game, with a shooting percentage of 41.3%, a three-point shooting percentage of 35.4%, and a free throw shooting percentage of 87.3%. R.J. Davis is a dual-purpose guard, only 1.85 meters tall, and belongs to a short guard.

However, he performed very well in college, including the ACC Best Player in 2024 and was selected for the Best Team. Objectively speaking, R.J. Davis has a better market in 2024. If you participate in the draft in 2024, you may have a chance to be selected. His data declined in 2025 and he was eventually defeated. He then signed a training camp contract with the Lakers, competed in the Summer League, and is now in the preseason.

R.J. Davis' role model is Reeves, who signed a two-way contract with the Lakers as a undraft, and then transferred to a formal contract before the regular season starts. Reeves is now one of the Lakers' main players. Will R.J. Davis be another Reeves?