As one of the top undrafted free agents, Augustas Mar\u010diulionis says he chose the Lakers over the Bucks this summer.<\/p>\n
Potentially one of the Lakers next hidden gems in the draft still has yet to hit the court this summer.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Augustas Mar\u010diulionis was one of the top undrafted free agent guards following the 2025 NBA Draft. The Lakers quickly swooped in and signed him to a deal to join the team during Summer League. However, a foot injury kept Mar\u010diulionis off the court for the entirety of the summer.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, Mar\u010diulionis\u2019 deal with the Lakers appears to be an Exhibit-10 contract, as revealed in his interview with Vaidas Jukavi\u010dius of BasketNews, allowing him to rehab this summer and join the team once training camp begins.<\/p>\n
Landing Mar\u010diulionis was a great signing for the Lakers, considering it came amidst competition as he revealed he chose the Lakers over the Bucks this summer (h\/t Sports Illustrated).<\/p>\n
\u201dThe attention was similar from both teams. But in Los Angeles, there were more people my agent and I knew and trusted. We understood the situation better there.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor some reason, L.A. just felt like the right choice. Still, it wasn\u2019t easy because I don\u2019t know that much about the NBA environment yet. But we thought this was the best place for me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n At St. Mary\u2019s last season, Mar\u010diulionis averaged 14.2 points, 5.9 assists and 3.1 rebounds in 35 games. He shot 44.6% from the field and 34.7% from the 3-point line. He earned West Coast Conference Player of the Year honors, no small feat in a conference with Gonzaga, and was named to the All-Conference First Team.<\/p>\n A very poorly-timed foot injury prior to the draft, though, meant his stock took a hit and he went undrafted. It could be a blessing, though, for the Lakers to land a player many were high on even heading into the draft.<\/p>\n While it\u2019s certainly a longshot for him to make the full roster, to say the least, the Lakers have turned undrafted prospects into viable NBA players before and there\u2019s a good case for Mar\u010diulionis to be next on that list.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As one of the top undrafted free agents, Augustas Mar\u010diulionis says he chose the Lakers over the Bucks this summer. Potentially one of the Lakers next hidden… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94009,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\n