Malik Newman went undrafted in last month’s NBA Draft, but his hope of cracking an NBA roster got a boost when the Los Angeles Lakers signed the Kansas Jayhawks product to a two-way deal shortly after the conclusion of the draft. Some weeks later, he’s back in the free agent market, as Newman has been cut by the Lakers, according to Ryan Ward of ClutchPoints.
#Lakers waive guard Malik Newman. In five Summer League games in Las Vegas for LA, Newman scored 3.2 points per game in 9.8 minutes.
— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) July 20, 2018
Newman simply failed to impress the Lakers’ brass, as he manufactured lackluster numbers in the NBA Summer League. He was not able to show the Lakers the only tangible reason why the team signed him in the first place, as he shot a horrendous 32.0 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from distance in five games in Las Vegas.
The Lakers gave the impression that they went into the draft looking for shooters after they selected floor-spacing big man and former Michigan Wolverine Moritz Wagner and Newman’s college teammate Svi Mykhailiuk and signed undrafted players Newman, Joel Berry II of North Carolina, and Jeffrey Carroll of Oklahoma State. Of them all, only Newman has been cut loose by the Lakers, which makes sense considering he’s the only one among the group that didn’t shoot the ball well during the Summer League.
It’s unfortunate for Newman that he had to be judged based on his performance over such a brief summer tournament than on his exploits in the last NCAA Tournament, where he played a crucial role in bringing the Jayhawks all the way into the Final Four round.
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