5 things we learned from the Lakers Summer League

From Bronny James’ strong play to Dalton Knecht’s struggles, here are the biggest things we learned about the Lakers during Summer League.

While Summer League fills the void of basketball that many fans have gone months without, it also remains an event that generates far too many overreactions.

Play in the Summer League is a step above college basketball, but still pretty far off from actual NBA basketball. But it’s still legitimate games and there’s still takeaways to be had, some more far-reaching than others.

For the Lakers, this summer was a mixed bag of results. Some of the biggest standouts — Cole Swider and Darius Bazley — were veterans by Summer League standards with very, very limited ceilings on their NBA potential.

With Bazley, any hope of him potentially making an impact on the team was brutally ripped away with his knee injury that appeared to be very serious in the penultimate game of the summer.

The intriguing new names weren’t there as Adou Thiero was out due to injury and new two-way signing Eric Dixon may not even be a new signing due to a foot injury. Then, there are the diverging paths that Bronny James and Dalton Knecht took as well.

With all that in mind, let’s look at the five biggest takeaways of the summer.

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Bronny James has taken big steps forward

After coming along slowly at the start of Summer League as he worked his way back from injury, Bronny finished with a flurry in Vegas.

Over his last three games, he averaged 16.3 points per game, flashing his ability to get to the rim while also knocking down five threes in that span. The Lakers have clearly been developing him as an on-ball guard and this summer was clear evidence of his progress.

While there is still a ways to go, this was a really strong summer for Bronny.

It might be time to start worrying about Dalton Knecht

On the flip side, this was not a strong summer for Dalton. In fact, it was a very concerning summer.

If not for a 25-point game against the Spurs in the California Classic finale where he caught fire in the fourth quarter, it would have been a downright disastrous summer. And even still, it’s not far off.

He shot 32.1% from the field, 23.7% from the 3-point line and more turnovers than assists. His defense does not look any better and his offense did not help him overcome his deficiencies.

There’s an argument to be had that the role Dalton played in the summer is not the one he’ll play with the parent Lakers, but this has been a downward trend since the start of the year for Dalton.

His poor play also hurts the Lakers in their search for a trade as his value has never been lower.

Cole Swider remains a Summer League legend...but probably nothing more than that

There are few people in the world, let alone Summer League, that can get buckets like Cole Swider. He led the Lakers in scoring at 17.6 points per game and hit 40.9% of his nearly nine 3-pointers per game.

In fact, he’s now the all-time leading scorer in Summer League history AND the all-time leader in 3-pointers.

While that is all great, he’s pretty much the definition of a AAAA player, for those familiar with basketball. His jumper is undeniable, but he doesn’t do enough of the other stuff to warrant playing time. He’s a tweener — in the bad way — defensively and that makes it very hard to play him.

He may earn a training camp invite but it’s hard to imagine him being on the roster next season.

Christian Koloko remains a promising prospect who the Lakers need to lock down

Another positive from the back half of Summer League was Christian Koloko. The big man is not technically under contract with the Lakers as they have only extended a qualifying offer to him.

As a result, he didn’t join the team until after Summer League started, but he looked strong once he did arrive. In five games, he had 13 blocks and six steals, including his best game in Las Vegas where he tallied 12 points, six rebounds, six blocks, three assists and two steals against the Celtics.

The Lakers absolutely need to lock him up and make sure he remains with the franchise moving forward.

The Lakers may need to make moves with their two-way contracts

On the topic of two-ways, the Lakers have some work to do on that front. Officially, the Lakers only have Trey Jemison III under contract as a two-way player.

His Summer League wasn’t great. He played just 12.1 minutes per game, appeared in only three games and wasn’t all that impactful. Maybe a Summer League environment isn’t the best place for him to show out but it wasn’t a great set of games from him.

Koloko, as mentioned, was tendered a qualifying offer for a two-way deal. Dixon’s future looks unclear as well due to a foot injury that had him out for the summer and saw him using a scooter to get around, not even putting weight on that foot.

So, the Lakers have some work to do with two-way deals. For one, does it make sense to use multiple spots on centers if the team has multiple centers on the roster next year? And are they willing to wait on Dixon, depending on the severity of his injury?

The other aspect of this is that no one else really shined in Summer League for the team to force their hand a bit.

As things stand, the Lakers have some decisions to make on their two-way spots.

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.