Jarred Vanderbilt signs a four-year contract deal with the Los Angeles Lakers worth $48 million.
Jarred Vanderbilt, a former Kentucky forward, has signed to a four-year, $48 million deal extension with the Los Angeles Lakers, according to his agency. The deal is completely guaranteed and includes a player option for the fourth year.
After being acquired from the Utah Jazz midway through last season, Vanderbilt averaged 7.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.2 steals in 26 games with 24 starts in his first season with the Lakers, guiding the team to a 43-39 regular season finish and a trip to the Western Conference Finals, where they were swept by his former team, the Denver Nuggets.
Vanderbilt, a high-level rebounder and defensive stopper, has averaged 6.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.0 steals in 244 career games with 162 career starts. After two injury-plagued seasons with the Nuggets, Vanderbilt was traded to the Timberwolves, where he played three seasons. Vanderbilt was traded to the Jazz in the summer of 2022 as part of a mega-deal for Rudy Gobert, a three-time All-Star and defensive player of the year.
As a rookie at Kentucky in 2017-18, the versatile 6-foot-9 forward missed the Wildcats’ first 17 games due to a foot injury in late September. He then missed all six Wildcats postseason games due to another foot injury received during practice in preparation for the SEC Tournament in St. Louis.
However, throughout his brief 14-game Kentucky career, Vanderbilt was a force on the glass, averaging 5.9 points and a team-high 7.9 rebounds. He grabbed double-digit rebounds in five of 14 games, including a career-high 15 against Missouri on Feb. 24 in his best game as a Wildcat, when he also tied a career high with 11 points.
Vanderbilt’s last game before his NBA debut on Jan. 25, 2019, was an 80-67 loss against Florida in Kentucky’s regular season finale on March 3, 2018, a 325-day hiatus. “I will tell you, his analytics, all those teams looking at analytics stuff, those [14] games, were off the charts,” Kentucky coach John Calipari stated. “NBA motor, goes for balls, quick twitch, can pass and bounce them. Numbers, pro spirit, pro energy, NBA body—all that stuff.”
Vanderbilt was originally selected by the Orlando Magic with the 41st overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, but was traded to the Nuggets in exchange for Justin Jackson, the 43rd overall pick, and a future second round pick.
The Nuggets signed Vanderbilt to a three-year, $4 million contract in July 2018. After dominating the NBA Summer League in rebounding, the Nuggets averaged 11.3 boards per game in 2019. Coming out of Victory Prep in Texas, Vanderbilt was ranked No. 12 overall in the 2017 class by the industry-average 247Sports Composite.