Matisse Thybulle left the Portland Trail Blazers in free agency, joining the Los Angeles Lakers on a team-friendly one-year, $3.3 million deal. That looks increasingly like a steal as we start to get deeper into the season.
Over seven games, he's averaged a career-high 9.0 points, along with 1.9 rebounds, 1.1 assists, and 1.9 steals per game. More impressively, Thybulle is proving to be an efficient 3-and-D weapon for the Lakers, connecting on 48.4 percent on 4.4 three-pointers per game -- both of which are also career highs.
Again, we're early in the season, and the shooting is bound to regress. But seriously? We're talking about a $3.3 million deal the Blazers couldn't beat for this guy?
Matisse Thybulle is showing the Blazers why they should've kept him
Thybulle's Blazers tenure unfortunately didn't go according to plan as he dealt with one injury after another. He totaled just 45 games played over his final two seasons in Portland. But when he was available, he still looked like an impactful two-way wing, which is exactly what the Blazers need right now. They have no reliable wing off the bench besides Sidy Cissoko, and "sharpshooter" Vit Krejci has been ice cold since coming over from Portland at last year's trade deadline.
It would've been frustrating to have to deal with such an injury-prone roster, bringing back Thybulle and Robert Williams III and adding Ja Morant into the mix in that scenario as well. But the Blazers currently don't even have a player filling the final spot on their 15-man roster after waiving forward Jeremy Sochan.
It's fair to wonder how much of this was out of general manager Joe Cronin's control. Maybe Thybulle just wanted a change of scenery, and if so, you certainly can't blame him after seeing how well he's performed to start the season with his new team. But given how shallow the Blazers are at wing after an offseason that saw Thybulle join the Lakers and Jerami Grant and Kris Murray join the Grizzlies in the deal for Morant, you'd have liked to see them make Thybulle a higher priority.
Credit the Lakers for landing 'Tisse on a bargain deal, as it's already proving to be an underrated part of their offseason plan to build around Luka Doncic. They paid a premium to acquire Walker Kessler from the Utah Jazz, finally giving Doncic the lob-threat center he loves to have at his disposal. But quietly, Los Angeles also successfully managed to surround Doncic with that two-way wing for cheap in Thybulle.
Unfortunately, health remains an issue, but given the contract and premium on two-way wings around the league, this looks like an absolute steal for Los Angeles.
The Blazers had a successful offseason overall, as the Morant trade worked better than expected before his injury. Still, they need to win these moves on the margins to make a deep playoff run. The loss stings even more knowing how much it's helping the rival Lakers, whom the Blazers could see in the playoffs.
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