The Lakers have officially signed costless agent power forward Ryan Kelly. The official signing took place on July 21st, which was on Monday. Mitch Kupchak had some words to say about Kelly.
“When we extended a qualifying offer to Ryan in June, we fully expected him to be a part of our future,” said Kupchak. “Ryan did everything we asked of him as a rookie and showed great promise and potential. After rehabbing an injury last summer, he will have the benefit of a full offseason regimen and training camp for the first time in his NBA career, and we anticipate further development as a result.”
In Kelly's rookie season with the Lakers he averaged just around 8.0 points per game, grabbed 3.7 rebounds, and dished out 1.6 assists per game in 22 minutes of game action last season. Out of the total 59 games including injury, Kelly only started in 25. Kelly scored 20+ points three times last season.
While playing for the Lakers development team for only five games, Kelly averaged 25.2 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.4 blocks in almost 40 minutes per game.
Kelly was drafted by the Lakers No.48th overal in the 2013 NBA draft.