NBA Training Camp: Lakers To Sign Ex-Celtics Forward After Releasing Fabian White Jr

Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly close to signing small forward Matt Ryan ahead of their training camp.

Ryan spent the majority of last season with the G League's Maine Celtics. He was on a two-way contract with Boston Celtics too. The 25-year-old now has a chance to continue his NBA career this season with Lakers, who are expected to rope in the player on a non-guaranteed contract ahead of the training camp, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.

The New York-born player is set to compete for a role with the Lakers, Celtics' rivals in the NBA, during training camp. If he fails to win a roster spot, he will end up back in the G League.

Ahead of the 2022-23 NBA season, Celtics opted to part ways with Ryan in the summer as they wanted to address other areas of the roster. The rookie player had a strong performance in Las Vegas Summer League for Boston in July, where he averaged 19 points in two games, including a buzzer-beating, game-winning 3 against the Bucks off one foot. However, the sharpshooter sat out the remainder of Summer League after picking up an ankle injury.

Meanwhile, the Lakers decided to sign Ryan after they decided to release forward Fabian White Jr. from their team just a couple of days ahead of the club's first training camp under new head coach Darvin Ham.

"The Los Angeles Lakers have requested waivers on forward Fabian White Jr," the Western Conference team tweeted.

Lakers' current squad has 12 players signed to guaranteed deals on its standard 15-man roster, in addition to the non-guaranteed contracts of Austin Reaves (likely to be guaranteed at some point this season) and Wenyen Gabriel, according to Sports Illustrated.

Meanwhile, point guard Russell Westbrook, whose future with the Lakers has been in doubt, has made a big statement ahead of the new term. He said he would just do his job and won't care whether he feels wanted in the team or not.

In a recent press conference, when a reporter asked Westbrook if he felt wanted by the Los Angeles Lakers, the player replied, "I don't need to. I need to just do my job. Whether I'm wanted or not doesn't really matter. I think the most important thing is that I show up for work and I do the job like I've always done it: Be professional and go out and play my ass off and compete."

The training camp ahead of the 2022-23 campaign is scheduled to start Tuesday, with the pre-season matches set to begin Friday. The main season will begin on Oct. 18 with Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers playing the opening game.