{"id":455990,"date":"2026-02-08T07:57:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T07:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/455990\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T07:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T07:57:11","slug":"ex-1st-round-pick-kobe-bufkin-rejoining-lakers-sources-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/455990\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-1st-round pick Kobe Bufkin rejoining Lakers, sources say"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">LOS ANGELES &#8212; The <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/team\/_\/name\/lal\/los-angeles-lakers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Lakers<\/a> are signing former No. 15 pick <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/player\/_\/id\/4683736\/kobe-bufkin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Kobe Bufkin<\/a> to a two-year deal, with a team option for the 2026-27 season, sources told ESPN&#8217;s Shams Charania on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Bufkin has starred for Los Angeles&#8217; South Bay G League affiliate and now rejoins the Lakers in his third NBA season to fill their 15th roster spot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Bufkin, 22, previously signed a 10-day contract with the Lakers in January and averaged 3.0 points and 1.3 rebounds in 11.3 minutes per game across four contests. He also played for the <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/team\/_\/name\/mem\/memphis-grizzlies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Memphis Grizzlies<\/a> on a 10-day contract in November.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">He was a standout for South Bay, averaging 24.7 points on 49.6% overall (43.1% from 3) with 4.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.0 steals per game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Bufkin, a 6-foot-4 guard, was the Atlanta Hawks&#8217; No. 15 pick in the 2023 NBA draft.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">After only appearing in 27 games in his first two seasons with the Hawks, he was traded to the <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/team\/_\/name\/bkn\/brooklyn-nets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Brooklyn Nets<\/a> for cash considerations in September and waived by Brooklyn in October.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2026 ESPN Internet Ventures. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES &#8212; The Lakers are signing former No. 15 pick Kobe Bufkin to a two-year deal, with&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[213140,213139,352,1055,355,3,99],"class_list":["post-455990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-213140","tag-bufkin-kobe","tag-espn","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-nba","tag-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}