The Los Angeles Lakers have a unique reason to keep Christian Coroco and Tray Jemison.
With the 2025 NBA playoffs round the corner, the top six seeds from both conferences have checked the roster of the postseason of 15.
For the Los Angeles Lakers, the two exciting two-way players in the Trey Jemison and Christian Koloko’s deal were not converted to standard contracts.
As a result, they won’t be in the rotation of head coach JJ Redick during the playoffs. Nonetheless, the two big men still have access to team training.
There is no doubt that the NBA will feature some of the world’s most talented basketball players. Obviously, it takes a huge amount of talent to win a roster in any of the 30 NBA franchises.
In this scenario, two-way trading helps the organization keep options open. Back at Jemison and Coroco, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin confirmed at X that the Lakers hadn’t changed their contract, but they are expected to travel with the team.
“Lakers two-way players Trey Jemison III and Christian Koloko are not eligible to play in the playoffs as they weren’t converted to full-fledged NBA contracts before the regular season ended,” writes McMenamin.
He added: “Both practice with the team today and we’re with the team for a playoff run.”
Now it’s a unique situation, but purple and gold are reportedly robust inference behind it.
There was debate over the final roster of Jemison and Coroco, but at this point the Lakers’ decision remains the same.
However, McMenamin reported that the Lakers did not want to destroy the team’s chemistry by completely blocking the two players ahead of the playoffs.
“The Lakers loved group chemistry during the regular season and wanted to keep that dynamic together for the playoffs,” added ESPN Insider.
Depending on how well the Lakers are playing in the playoffs, Jemison and Coroco will help them win permanent place on their roster next season.
Until then, Lakers fans will continue to be seen in team videos from practice sessions during the playoffs.