The Los Angeles Lakers organization has already ditched a young guard, not even a week into LA’s training camp run. Granted, this new arrives with a caveat: the Lakers team making the deal is LA’s NBAGL affiliate in El Segundo, the South Bay Lakers.
South Bay is flipping a G League guard to an Eastern Conference NBAGL club in exchange for three future draft picks.
Per Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files, the South Bay Lakers are offloading their G League rights to guard DaJuan Gordon to the Indiana Pacers’ G League affiliate — the freshly rebranded Noblesville Boom — in exchange for two second-round G League draft selections the Boom’s 2026 international draft pick. After going undrafted out of the University of Texas at Arlington in 2024, Gordon appeared in 34 regular season games with South Bay (13 starts). Bronny James and Quincy Olivari may have drawn most of the headlines in South Bay, but Gordon enjoyed an impactful run off the bench.
Across those 34 regular season South Bay bouts in 2024-25, the 6-foot-4 guard averaged 8.7 points on .452/.295/.674 shooting splits, 5.1 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 0.9 steals a night.
The 24-year-old rejoined the Lakers’ Summer League squad in July.
In seven games played between the California Classic and Las Vegas Summer Leagues, Gordon averaged 4.6 points on .275/.261/.667 shooting splits, 3.0 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 0.6 assists per. Now, he’ll get a new start with the Boom.
What is a ‘G League Rights’ Trade?
A “G League rights” trade essentially means that, should Gordon want to stay in the G League and not look for more money internationally, he will have to play for Noblesville.
Bronny James, eldest son of 21-time All-NBA Lakers superstar forward LeBron James, spent most of his own 2024-25 rookie season with South Bay, submitting impressive stats. In 11 regular season G League bouts, the 6-foot-2 USC product averaged 21.9 points while slashing .443/.380/.815, plus 5.3 boards, 5.3 dimes and 1.9 swipes per. He saw action in 27 games with Los Angeles proper, albeit in mop-up minutes. This year, there’s a real possibility that Bronny James will have at least a shot at supplanting Gabe Vincent in the Lakers’ bench rotation, as a key point-of-attack perimeter defender for a Los Angeles squad that desperately needs help in just that department.
