Welcome to our Lakers Season Preview Series! For the next several weeks, we’ll be writing columns every weekday, breaking down the biggest questions we have about every player the Lakers added this offseason. Today, we look at Adou Theiro.
The Lakers have a new rookie donning the No. 1 and his name is Adou Thiero. The last person to wear that jersey number for the Lakers was D’Angelo Russell, a player who was also drafted by L.A. and spent multiple stints here trying to be the guard of the future.
Now Thiero will wear the same number and try to make it his own here in Southern California.
The Lakers clearly like Theiro as they traded up twice in the draft to select him. Given that he’s considered an athletic wing and the NBA covets that archetype, the hype is already mounting that Los Angeles just found another diamond in the rough.
The question is, can he live up to the hype and will he even get the opportunity to do so?
What is his best-case scenario?
In the best-case scenario, Thiero shows why it’s good to have a young, explosive, athletic wing on the roster.
Thiero can come in, drive into the paint and just bully the rim into submission. If you look up some of the college highlights from his days in Arkansas, you’ll see perfect examples of this.
Thiero’s leaping ability and physicality mean that he’ll have some highlight-worthy blocks and soon, teams will think twice about challenging him inside.
He may not play much, but the goal for Thiero would be not to count the minutes, but make the minutes count.
If he comes into games and provides a boost of energy and offensive production, then Lakers fans will be fawning over the rookie and asking for more, as they often do with young, talented players.
Every NBA team is looking for production at the wing position. So Thiero will certainly get some opportunities to show he can be an option for this team if injuries occur or during the dog days of the season.
If he takes advantage of those chances, he’ll be one of the rookies the entire NBA will be talking about.
What is his worst-case scenario?
The best ability is availability, and Thiero has already had injuries stall his Lakers career. A left knee injury took him out of Summer League, which was the same injury that forced him to miss a lot of games during his final year of college ball.
It’s been reported that Thiero will be ready for training camp, so there’s no need for fans to panic just yet. However, if he isn’t ready for training camp, then ring the alarms.
Beyond injuries, it’s also important to remember that Thiero is a second-round draft pick. Yes, he has tremendous upside, but the basketball world is filled with players with unlimited potential that was never fully materialized.
And the second round of the NBA Draft is almost built entirely on the latter.
Perhaps Thiero’s ability and raw talent that shined in college is unable to translate in the NBA. Sure, he can dunk in a fastbreak scenario, but he can’t consistently create space to let his athleticism show.
Thiero’s inability to shoot makes him unplayable in JJ Redick’s offense and soon he’s spending more time with South Bay trying to find himself than on the Lakers bench ready to contribute.
What is his most likely role on the team?
Last season, Lakers rookie Dalton Knecht played in 78 games and averaged 19.2 minutes while scoring 9.1 points. Now, Knecht had his own fair share of ups and downs, but that level of production is unlikely for Thiero.
He’ll likely have a rookie campaign like Max Christie did, playing in half of the team’s games, averaging double-digit minutes and scoring a handful of points.
Thiero’s health will be key, but given his raw athletic talent, I think he’ll be a net positive on the floor. Giving Luka Dončić that kind of vertical spacing will give Thiero some easy baskets whenever he shares the floor with the Slovenian.
Ideally, the Lakers are a great team and Thiero is a player who gets a couple of shifts, but can’t earn much more due to the quality of talent in front of him. If Theiro is, say, a 25-plus-minute player, that either means the Lakers made a slam dunk of a pick, or they are not a very good team.
I lean towards the Lakers being pretty good so Theiro will have to make the most out of his limited action on the floor.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
