On December 17, the Los Angeles Lakers suffered another blow, and Westbrook, one of the big three, triggered a safety and health agreement, can not continue to play, when to return to the unknown. Neither he nor Bradley have rushed to the next stop with the team.
This is the first time that Westbrook has triggered a safety and health agreement this season, and with him inside, the Lakers currently have five players and an assistant coach who cannot accompany the team due to triggering the safety and health agreement, namely Warcraft Howard, Munch, Tucker Jr., and Bradley, who has already played the protagonist Phil Handy. If you add the two people who have been injured so far in the season, the Lakers have now reached 7 players in terms of players alone.
In view of this, the Lakers are also currently looking for ways to supplement the immediate combat players.
According to ESPN, if the alliance agrees that the Lakers will use the exemption to sign Thomas Jr., then the Lakers plan to sign Thomas Jr. at local time, and the two sides are expected to reach a short contract for 10 days.
The exemption mentioned above was previously ruled by the league that allowed a team to break its player roster beyond the 15-man limit after at least four players had triggered a safety and health agreement.
Allowing a team to have at least four players sick at the same time for at least two weeks, thus exceeding the 15-man cap.
Thomas Jr. has been in good shape since joining the Development League, scoring 42 points in a single game in his previous game.
Thomas Jr. played 17 games for the Lakers in 2017-18, and his most recent NBA game was during his time with the New Orleans Pelicans last season (a 10-day short contract), averaging 7.7 points and 1.7 assists in three games and shooting 33.3 percent from the field.
For nearly two seasons, Thomas Jr. has been looking for an opportunity to return to the NBA, and if he does sign next, he will be able to get what he wants.