Travis Wear’s second 10-day contract another positive for Los Angeles Lakers building system

The Los Angeles Lakers’ signing of Travis Wear to consecutive 10-day contracts is another example of their systemic fluidity in style of play between the Lakers and their G League team.

After signing a second 10-day contract with the Los Angeles Lakers on March 12, Travis Wear is making the most of his second NBA stint. The 27-year-old forward is a local southern California product who grew up in nearby Long Beach and attended UCLA after transferring from the University of North Carolina, and he’s carving a role with the Lakers despite averaging 4.3 points and 2.2 rebounds in 10.7 minutes per game.

This is Wear’s second stint in the NBA. He spent the 2014-15 NBA season playing with the New York Knicks after going undrafted in 2014. He appeared in 51 games (one start) and averaged worse numbers than he currently does in 13.2 minutes per game.

After finding little interest from NBA teams following that season with the Knicks, Wear played the 2015-16 season in Spain’s Liga ACB with San Sebastian Gipuzkoa Basket Club. He was a solid rotational player for a team in the second-best league in the world, playing 20.5 minutes per game before signing with the G League affiliate of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Wear has been one of the top players for the G League Lakers over the past two seasons. His per game numbers this season are 16.2 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 29.7 minutes. He’s always had a nice shooting stroke, but his 41.9 percent on 6.9 attempts from the 3-point line will go a long way to him staying in the NBA.

It’s clear that Wear will never be a strong stats player in terms of volume, but he’s shown a consistent ability to stretch the floor regardless of his attempts number. His shooting is a commodity throughout the NBA, and he’s showing there are other facets to his game outside of spot shooting.

Perhaps his best traits don’t appear on a stat sheet. It’s cliche and simple, but Wear keeps the ball moving and doesn’t disrupt the flow of an offense all while spacing the floor. He understands his limitations in making plays off the dribble or being a go-to scorer, and does his job of setting screens and finding open space to get off his jumper.

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The same could be said of his defensive abilities. They’re not great, but he knows how to rotate on defense and gives solid effort. Like most Lakers, Wear is active on the boards, giving head coach Luke Walton another rebounder to throw on the court. If Wear continues to play this way, there should be strong consideration to lock him up for the rest of the season.

Which brings me to a larger idea that I plan of diving into later in the season: The Los Angeles Lakers are laying the groundwork for a culture and style of basketball that is translated from their G League team to their NBA team, and are starting to find players that match this system.

It’s clear the Lakers are targeting players that fit into their up-tempo, ball movement style of play, and we’re seeing players plugged into the NBA from their G League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers, who have no problem playing minutes in the NBA.

Besides Wear, we’ve seen Alex Caruso play plenty of good basketball for the NBA Lakers before going down to South Bay and dominating the G League. Gary Payton II has played less after signing a two-way contract midseason, but he has held his own in his spot minutes with Los Angeles.

Next: 2018 NBA Draft - Early March Mock Draft

The Lakers are doing what most teams in the NBA should do with their G League affiliate by implementing an system throughout the whole organization and targeting players that fit this mold. They’ve done so with Travis Wear spending two seasons within the system, and could be the start of a pipeline of rotation players that contribute to the Lakers in the near future.