Gonzaga’s career scoring leader is on the move again as he prepares to begin his third professional basketball season.
In a two-team trade, Drew Timme’s returning player rights were sent from the Long Island Nets to the South Bay Lakers earlier this week, meaning the former Zag will start the season playing for the Los Angeles Lakers’ G League affiliate located in El Segundo, California.
In the trade, the Nets acquired the returning player rights to guard Nate Williams and a first-round pick in the 2027 NBA G League Draft.
Timme was waived by the Brooklyn Nets earlier in the month despite a strong closing stretch to the 2024-25 G League and NBA season. The former Gonzaga standout was averaging 23.9 points, 10.3 rebounds and 4.1 assists for the Long Island Nets before he was called up to play for Brooklyn the final nine games of the regular season.
While playing for the NBA team, he averaged 12.1 ppg, 7.2 rpg and 2.2 apg, shooting 44% from the field. Timme picked up where he left off at NBA Summer League, averaging 25.3 ppg, 8.0 rpg and 2.7 apg in three games for the Nets.
Timme was thought to be a candidate for Brooklyn’s third and final two-way spot before he was traded by the team on Tuesday.
The South Bay Lakers haven’t finalized their roster, but Timme’s move could reunite him with former Gonzaga frontcourt mate and close friend Anton Watson. Like Timme, Watson spent the tail end of the 2024-25 NBA season in the Big Apple, playing a reserve role for the New York Knicks.
After representing the Knicks at Summer League, Watson was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, who waived the Gonzaga Prep product while trimming their roster. That could make him a natural candidate to join Timme and South Bay’s G League team for the 2025-26 season.
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