{"id":589903,"date":"2026-02-08T05:50:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T05:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/589903\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T05:50:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T05:50:14","slug":"lakers-signing-g-leagues-no-1-scorer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/589903\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers signing G League&#8217;s No. 1 scorer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Los Angeles Lakers have locked in their pick to fill the team\u2019s final roster spot.<\/p>\n<p>The Lakers are reportedly signing guard Kobe Bufkin to a two-year contract. According to ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania, the deal includes a team option for the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Los Angeles Lakers are signing guard Kobe Bufkin to a two-year deal, with a team option for the 2026-27 season, sources tell ESPN. Bufkin has starred for L.A.&#8217;s South Bay affiliate and now rejoins the Lakers in his third NBA season to fill their 15th roster spot. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Z1m3M4KvTM\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/Z1m3M4KvTM<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/2020366872969916706?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">February 8, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>The Lakers liked Bufkin for reasons that go beyond just sharing the same name as the late Kobe Bryant. <\/p>\n<p>Bufkin, a 2023 first-round pick for the Atlanta Hawks, tore up the G League this season playing for the South Bay Lakers. He led the G League in scoring during the regular season with averages of 27.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 4.7 assists across 14 games. His shooting splits were immaculate: 52.2% from the field, 43.1% from three, and 89.1% from the free-throw line.<\/p>\n<p>The Los Angeles Lakers last month called Bufkin up on a 10-day deal, but he didn\u2019t give fans much to get excited about. Bufkin scored just 12 points over 4 games played with the senior squad.<\/p>\n<p>With Bufkin now signed to a guaranteed NBA deal, the Lakers are hoping his game also stabilizes at the next level.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Lakers have locked in their pick to fill the team\u2019s final roster spot. The Lakers&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3790],"tags":[7,2822,4034,1698,300,4044,251,150,4033,4043,6],"class_list":["post-589903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-los-angeles-lakers","tag-basketball","tag-kobe-bufkin","tag-la","tag-la-lakers","tag-lakers","tag-lalakers","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-losangeles","tag-losangeleslakers","tag-nba"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116033449122736375","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589903\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}