Author Archives: Brian Martin

Lakers sign 7-foot center Robert Upshaw

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The Lakers have signed Robert Upshaw after five games of summer-league play to a multi-year contract. (Photo by Getty Images)

The Lakers have signed Robert Upshaw after five games of summer-league play to a multi-year contract. (Photo by Getty Images)


The Lakers ended a couple months of speculation and announced the signing of center Robert Upshaw to a multi-year contract.

General Manager Mitch Kupchak announced the deal Monday in a press release, but terms of the deal were not revealed.

The 7-foot Upshaw played five games for the Lakers’ summer-league team, averaging 1.4 points, 2.2 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in 11.5 minutes per game.

Upshaw, 21, entered the NBA draft after stints at Fresno State and Washington but went undrafted. He was dismissed from both schools for violating team rules.

As a sophomore last season at Washington, Upshaw led the nation with 4.5 blocks per game in just 24.9 minutes in 19 appearances. He averaged 10.9 points on 59.3 percent shooting and 8.2 rebounds.

The Upshaw signing comes five days after the Lakers signed 32-year-old Brazilian guard Marcelo Huertas to a one-year, non-guaranteed deal. Huertas averaged 7.4 points and 4.4 assists last season for FC Barcelona in Spain, where he has played in the past four years.

The Lakers have 18 players under contract, including non-guaranteed deals to Tarik Black and Jabari Brown. They can have up to 20 players during training camp before trimming to a league-maximum 15 to open the 2015-16 season in late October.

Lakers announce front-office promotions, Jesse Buss becomes assistant general manager

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The Lakers have made several key front-office promotions, including elevating Jesse Buss to assistant general manager and director of scouting.

The moves, announced by general manager Mitch Kupchak in a press release Friday, also featured the naming of Ryan West as director of player personnel and Clay Moser as assistant coach and director of basketball strategy.

Buss, the team’s director of scouting the past three seasons, will contribute to personnel decisions with Kupchak, executive vice president of basketball operations Jim Buss and assistant general manager Glenn Carraro. He has been with the organization since 2006, when he got his start as a basketball operations assistant.

West, who started with the Lakers as a scout in 2009, was the assistant director of scouting the past three seasons. Prior to joining the Lakers, West was a scout for eight seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Moser has been the Lakers’ head advance NBA scout the past two seasons and also worked as a Lakers assistant coach last season after serving as associated head coach of the D-Fenders in 2011-12.

Yuju Lee, who was hired as a consultant by the Lakers for the 2012-13 season, is now the Lakers’ director of analytics. Aaron Danielson, who has been a consultant the past two seasons, is now associated director of analytics.