July 24: Manon is officially a Laker now as well, according to the team (Twitter link via Khobi Price of The Southern California News Group).
July 23: Koloko has officially been signed to a two-way contract, Dan Woike of The Athletic tweets.
July 21: The Lakers are filling two of their three two-way slots by signing Christian Koloko and Chris Manon, according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
L.A. made Koloko a restricted free agent in June when the team gave him a qualifying offer. There was an expectation he’d return to the Lakers, but he drew outside interest as well, tweets Charania.
The 7’1″ center from Cameroon showed promise as a rookie with Toronto in 2022/23 after being selected No. 33 overall in the 2022 draft, but his career was sidetracked by a blood clot issue which sidelined him for the entire 2023/24 season. He was medically cleared to continue playing last fall and wound up with the Lakers on a two-way contract.
Koloko made 37 appearances with the Lakers last season, averaging 2.4 points and 2.5 rebounds in 9.2 minutes per contest. He also played in 12 G League games with the Lakers’ affiliate (South Bay), averaging 14.5 PPG, 8.1 RPG and 3.3 BPG in 29.6 MPG.
The 25-year-old also made five Summer League appearances in Las Vegas, averaging 7.2 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 1.2 SPG and 2.6 BPG in 17.5 MPG.
Manon, a 6’5″ guard/forward, went undrafted out of Vanderbilt last month. He played for the Warriors in both the California Classic and Las Vegas Summer Leagues, Charania notes.
Manon thrived at creating turnovers in his four-year college career, the first three of which he spent with Cornell. He posted career averages of 9.9 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 2.1 APG and 2.0 SPG on .535/.304/.728 shooting in just 19.6 MPG.
The 23-year-old wing made seven total Summer League appearances for Golden State (17.1 MPG), per RealGM, averaging 9.0 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 1.9 APG, 1.6 SPG and 1.4 BPG, with a shooting line of .442/.286/.676.
All three of the Lakers’ two-way spots will be filled once the deals for Koloko and Manon are official, with center Trey Jemison currently the third player on a two-way contract.
The Lakers reportedly agreed to a two-way deal with former Villanova forward Eric Dixon shortly after he went undrafted in June. It’s unclear what will happen with Dixon now that all three spots are occupied, but it’s worth noting that two-way contracts are non-guaranteed and don’t count against the salary cap, so further changes are certainly possible.
Assuming L.A. eventually carries a full 15-man standard roster (the team may open the season with 14), both Koloko and Manon can be active for up to 50 games next season. Each player will earn $636,435 in ’25/26.