How a G League assignment helped Adu Thierry recover from injury

LOS ANGELES – After missing all of summer league and training camp with an ankle injury suffered in college, Adou Thiero made his debut with the Los Angeles Lakers on Nov. 15 during the team’s big win against the Milwaukee Bucks. Since then, Thiero has had a a couple of tasks in G League with South Bay as a vehicle to help him continue his overall progress and development.

Adou Thiero has appeared in three games with South Bay so far while on G League assignment, and in each of those games he showed why the Lakers thought of him as a first round draft pick. For Tierro himself, playing with South Bay allowed him to regain the confidence he had before the injury.

“Just to be able to get back to who I am. I remember who I got hurt and to be able to get back up to speed with everything,” Tiero said after the Lakers’ practice last Monday.

In the first game with South Bay, Tierro was clearly the best player on the field. He finished with a game-high 19 points, four rebounds, one assist and three steals in 19 minutes. In the three games he played, he averaged 15.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 2.0 rebounds while shooting 55.6 percent from the field.

In between his stints in the G League, Tiero was called into action with the Lakers due to various injuries. One of Thierry’s most memorable performances came on Dec. 4 during the team’s win against the Toronto Raptors. He played 10 minutes from the bench, shooting only, but his energy and effort stood out, especially in defense.

While Thiero admitted he probably won’t be the player he was in college, he knows the skills that made him valuable and made him an NBA draft pick will come in handy.

“I still feel like I’m trying to find where I fit in on this team,” Thiero said. “I can’t go back to being exactly that person, but I might take some things from what I did in college and level it up from there.”

Tierro played three seasons in college, two at Kentucky and one at Arkansas after hitting the transfer portal and following John Calipari to the Razorbacks. He declared for the draft due to injury and ended up with the 36th overall pick when the Lakers traded up in the second round.

As the Lakers roster continues to change due to injury issues, Tiero is sure to get opportunities as the season progresses.