Lakers’ 7-Foot Summer League Star Focused On Roster Spot, Gains Fans

The Los Angeles Lakers may get the best of aspiring star Colin Castleton who would really want to earn a spot on their roster. Castleton was brilliant at Florida and delivered a monster performance at the NBA Las Vegas Summer League. In the second summer-league game against the Charlotte Hornets, Castleton delivered 21 points and 14 rebounds, while going 8-for-13 from the field.

The Lakers could really use an excellent passer like Castleton. They signed the young 7-footer after the end of the NBA draft. He became a priority for the team and became one of three two-way players.

Lakers 2-way big Colin Castleton has been DOMINATING in Summer League.

In 4 games, he is averaging 15.8 points, 8.3 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game while shooting 70% FG. 🔥👀 pic.twitter.com/afk9ijiH7r

— cub (@KingJakeVII) July 11, 2023

“This is a first-class organization,” Castleton said. “I knew when I came here I was gonna get better little by little every day. And that’s just the biggest thing for me. It’s just having a growth mindset. I wanted to develop my first year, learn from the best players in the world, which they have, a great organization from the front office to the coaches, everybody there is great.

“I knew that with my agent (Aaron Reilly, who represents Austin Reaves), he already knew everybody so you know, it’s kind of easy on draft night to know where I was gonna go and just have a good fit and opportunity.”

The aspiring star will work hard to earn his spot on the roster

The 23-year-old has a strong fanbase in Gainesville. Fans like his ability to block opponents and Lakers head coach Darvin Ham could really use this to defend the rim.

“In college I’m used to just sitting in the paint all the time and just you know, swatting everything at the rim, but in NBA you got to be more active, you got to move your feet better,” he said. “Definitely got dunked on a couple of times, but you know, that doesn’t bother me. Just being able to be at the room and be a rim protector, just letting my teammates know if something happens, I’m there for you. But just yeah, definitely an adjustment to more athletic guys dunking everything, but I’m gonna continue to jump with everybody because I don’t care.”