The Lakers use a two-way contract to leave inside stars. Can he explode next season?

According to ESPN reporter Shams Charania, the Los Angeles Lakers plan to sign with two players, Christian Koloko and wing player Chris Mañon, who both received two-way contracts from the Lakers.

Koloko, from Cameroon, was born in June 2000. He is 24 years old, 213cm tall and weighs 104kg. He is the inside star selected by the Raptors in the 33rd pick in the second round in the 2022 NBA Draft. After playing for one season with the Raptors, Koloko was forced to miss a whole season due to thrombosis problems, and he was directly cut by the Raptors in the middle of the 2023-24 season. Before the start of the NBA regular season last season, after a long period of rest and recovery, Kroko finally got a medical license to return to the NBA, and he quickly got a two-way contract from the Lakers.

In the NBA regular season last season, Kroko played 37 times for the Lakers in 82 games, averaging 9.2 minutes per game, averaging 2.4 points, 2.5 rebounds, 0.4 assists, 0.2 steals and 0.4 blocks, and 0.3 turnovers and 1.2 fouls, with a shooting percentage of 60.6% and a free throw percentage of 71.4%. In the playoffs, due to the restrictions on the identity of two-way contract players, Kroko was not unable to appear on the team's roster. In the NBA Development League last season, Kroko played 12 times for the Lakers' subordinate team, Nanwan Lakers, with averaging 29.6 minutes per game, with averaging 14.5 points, 7.9 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.6 steals and 3.2 blocks, and 1.8 turnovers and 3.5 fouls. His shooting percentage was 54.5%, his three-point shooting percentage was 17.9%, and his free throw shooting percentage was 73.3%.

Koloko performed quite well in the NBA Development League. He has extremely high dominance on the defensive end, he has excellent inside defense ability, and his ability to protect the basket and assist in defense are both good. Kroko also has a rich offensive method on the offensive end. He also seems to have considerable potential to explore and have the opportunity to grow into an all-round player with both offense and defense. However, in the NBA, his performance is indeed a bit lackluster. Due to his playing time, he really cannot show off his characteristics in all aspects.

In the previous NBA Summer League, Koloko played 5 times for the Lakers, averaging 17.5 minutes per game, averaging 7.2 points, 4 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.2 steals and 2.6 blocks, and 0.8 turnovers and 4 fouls. His shooting percentage was 57.7%, a three-point shooting percentage of 20%, and a free throw shooting percentage of 55.6%. Kroko's performance during the summer league was actually quite average, or his performance during the summer league was really not stable. Kroko is still able to show his talents on the court, but the problem is that he can't do this in every game. With Kroko's ability and his performance in the NBA Development League, he should have performed at the dominant level, but his performance was ups and downs. In any case, Koloko still got the opportunity to stay in the team. Can his performance in next season be further improved?