A lot of the focus on the Los Angeles Lakers’ potential moves this summer has been on the guard and wing spots. There have been rumors they may go after Kyrie Irving again, and more recently, there has been noise about Chris Paul possibly joining them on a discount contract.
But they could also use some improved frontcourt depth, especially after they got swept by Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals. It looks like the road to the NBA Finals in the West will go through Denver and their MVP center for a while.
The Lakers could add a useful frontcourt player in the upcoming 2023 NBA Draft using their No. 17 and No. 47 picks. One frontcourt player they recently worked out is Adama Sanogo out of the University of Connecticut.
A look at Sanogo
Sanogo is a pretty rugged big man at 6-foot-9 and 240 pounds. He is a good low-post offensive player, and he has a deft touch in the paint.
In his three years at UConn, he improved his scoring average from 7.3 points a game as a freshman to 14.8 a game the following year and 17.2 per contest this past season. He is also very efficient, as he shot 60.6 percent from the field during the 2022-23 season.
The forward, who is originally from the African nation of Mali, has also improved his free throw accuracy from 57.7 percent as a freshman to 76.6 percent in his junior year. He can control the boards pretty well, as evidenced by his average of 7.7 rebounds a game as the Huskies captured the national championship this past year.
He played well throughout the NCAA Tournament, and after scoring 17 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in the championship game versus San Diego State University, he was named the MVP of the tournament.
Sanogo tried adding a 3-point shot this past season, attempting 1.3 such shots a game and making 36.5 percent of them.
He isn’t an outstanding athlete, and he may project as an undersized 5 at the NBA level. But he could be a nice target in the second round of the draft.
