Last season, the Los Angeles Lakers had to deal with inadequate play from their backup centers. Jaxson Hayes was inconsistent with his energy, effort and intensity defensively and on the boards, and Christian Wood, who had played most of his minutes at the 5 in recent seasons, was used mainly at the 4.
After Wood suffered a knee ailment that kept him out through the stretch run of the season, the Lakers signed Harry Giles III to a two-way contract in early March. But instead of helping them with one of their big roster weaknesses, Giles played in seven games for them and got a very scant amount of playing time — 19 minutes in total to be exact.