At age 29, he officially joins the Lakers! A defensive stopper paired with Doncic

It's official, the deal is done.

Insider Shams reports:Thybulle is signing a one-year, $3.3 million contract with the Lakers.

This guy was born on March 4, 1997, stands 1.96m tall with a 2.12m wingspan, a swingman who was selected as the 20th overall pick in the first round of the 2019 draft.

Throughout his NBA career so far, before bringing his talents to the Lakers, Thybulle played for the 76ers and Trail Blazers. His stats are as follows:

In the regular season, he averaged 20.6 minutes, 5 points, 2 rebounds, 1.1 assists, and 1.6 steals, with shooting percentages of 43.8% from the field, 34.9% from three, and 68.3% from the free-throw line.

In the playoffs, he averaged 16.7 minutes, 3.6 points, 1.4 rebounds, 1 steal, and 0.8 blocks, with shooting splits of 42.3%, 27%, and 50%.

Thybulle is indeed not known for his offense; his biggest selling point is that he was named to the All-Defensive Second Team for two consecutive seasons (2020-21 and 2021-22).

Statmuse, a US media outlet, highlighted several of Thybulle's defensive stats:He ranks 1st among active players in steals per minute, 1st among bench players in steals per game, 5th among active players in steals per game, and 3rd in steals during the fourth quarter of the 2020s.

Reporter Sidery commented: Thybulle instantly becomes the best wing defender on the Los Angeles Lakers.

It's worth noting that Thybulle doesn't play much; over his eight-season career, he has appeared in only 377 regular-season games. In the last two seasons, he has suited up for just 45 regular-season games combined, a very poor attendance rate. That's why he's only getting a minimum contract despite being in his prime.

By the way, with the Lakers signing Thybulle, the current roster now has 16 fully guaranteed standard contracts, meaning they will need to cut or trade at least one fully guaranteed player to comply with the 15-player roster limit.

Before this, a US reporter proposed a trade scenario: the Lakers could send out Vanderbilt + Bronny + a pick swap to the Mavericks in exchange for PJ Washington.

PJ Washington teamed up with Doncic in the 2023-24 season to help the Mavericks reach the Finals. The two have good chemistry, and if they can reunite with the Lakers, it would surely boost the Purple and Gold's competitiveness.