Peter Suder sits at the center of a busy Lakers draft night, and the move that followed was sharper than the trade board. The Los Angeles Lakers signed undrafted Vanderbilt forward AK Okereke to a two-way contract after the 2026 NBA Draft ended.
That gave the Lakers an undrafted player on a two-way deal immediately after using draft-night leverage elsewhere. It also put Okereke on an NBA path without waiting for free agency to open on June 29.
AK Okereke’s college path
Okereke spent three years at Cornell before transferring to Vanderbilt for his senior season. At Cornell, he averaged 13.9 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.1 blocks per game in his junior year, while shooting 59.5 percent from the field and 32.1 percent from beyond the arc.
At Vanderbilt, he averaged 9.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. He also shot 40 percent from three-point range in the 2025-26 campaign, a number that helps explain why the Lakers moved quickly once the draft ended.
Los Angeles Lakers draft moves
The Lakers were active before Okereke’s deal arrived. They traded up in the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft to select Cameron Carr, then acquired the No. 56 overall pick for cash from the Chicago Bulls before the second round.
Later in the draft, the Lakers sent that same No. 56 pick to the Dallas Mavericks for cash. The sequence left them with no second-round selection but with room to add Okereke on a two-way contract after the draft.
Shams Charania said, “Undrafted Vanderbilt forward AK Okereke has agreed to a two-way NBA deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, sources tell.” The move made Okereke the first undrafted player to agree to a two-way deal with an NBA team, a rare outcome in a draft that already saw the Lakers move their assets twice.
The immediate question now is how the Lakers plan to use him. What role, if any, they expect Okereke to play on the roster is not explained, but the signing shows the front office preferred a flexible two-way addition after turning the No. 56 pick into cash.
NBA free agency
Attention now turns to NBA free agency beginning on June 29, with the Lakers having already made their post-draft move. For Okereke, the deal gives him a direct entry point after going undrafted, and for the Lakers it closes a draft night that ended with Carr, cash and a new two-way player in place.
