Luka Doncic is already seeing something in Adou Thiero that the rest of the league may not have on its radar yet.
With the Lakers’ attention in the 2026-27 season build-up centered on Doncic, Austin Reaves and Walker Kessler, the second-year forward has started to draw some real buzz inside the team. Doncic was asked on the Mason & Ireland Show whether there was a player on the roster who hasn’t gotten much public attention but has stood out to him.
“I think there’s a lot of underrated guys in our group,” Doncic said. “I can’t name one specifically, but a lot of new signings, I think they’re very underrated, and they’re going to help us a lot.
But what I saw from Adou [Thiero], like you said this year, the improvement is insane. So I’m very excited for him.”
Thiero’s path to this point has been slowed by injuries from the start. The Brooklyn Nets picked him at No. 36 in the 2025 NBA Draft before sending his rights to the Lakers. There was real excitement around the 6’7″ wing, but he barely got on the floor as a rookie.
A left knee hyperextension in his junior year at Arkansas led to surgery that wiped out his summer league, preseason and the first 13 games of the 2025-26 season. His NBA debut finally came in the Lakers’ 119-95 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Nov. 15, 2025, but his momentum was interrupted again when he suffered a right MCL sprain at the end of December. He came back in mid-February and finished the year without a major role.
In all, Thiero appeared in 25 games as a rookie and averaged 1.9 points, 1.1 rebounds, 0.4 assists, 0.3 steals and 0.1 blocks.
That’s why the summer mattered so much. If he was going to push for rotation minutes as a sophomore, he needed a leap - and he may have delivered one. In the California Classic and Las Vegas Summer League, Thiero averaged 14.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 2.1 steals and 0.4 blocks per game.
The appeal is obvious. Thiero brings elite athleticism and defensive upside, and while his offensive game is still coming along, the Lakers have plenty of players who can score. What they need are active defenders who play hard, and he fits that mold.
JJ Redick has seen the same thing Doncic has.
“Adou has had a great, probably last 6-7 weeks here in L.A.,” Redick said. “Again, he didn’t have any training last summer after the draft or in the spring prior to the draft, missed all of preseason for us last year, had a subsequent injury in January.
“This has been probably the longest uninterrupted stretch of development he’s had since he became a Laker, and he’s gotten better every day,” Redick continued. “He had a great day today at pick-up.”
How much of a role Thiero gets from Redick remains to be seen, especially with so many new faces on the roster and plenty of competition for spots. But the Lakers clearly have one more name worth tracking.
And at the top of that roster, of course, is Doncic. Entering his ninth NBA season, the six-time All-Star still hasn’t won a championship, and he has made it clear he wants total buy-in from everyone around him as he pushes for that goal.
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