Matisse Thybulle is getting another shot, and it’s coming in Los Angeles.
The Lakers have agreed to a one-year, $3.3 million deal with the former All-Defensive forward, per ESPN’s Shams Charania. This is not the kind of money Thybulle used to command. But it’s also not the kind of player he’s been lately.
Two years ago, Thybulle was still viewed as one of the league’s premier perimeter disruptors. He made First Team All-Defense in 2022 and Second Team in 2023, building a reputation for those ridiculous chase-down blocks and the way he’d turn passing lanes into personal nightmares for opposing guards. He was exactly the kind of grinder the Lakers always seem to need.
Then the injuries hit. Thybulle missed major chunks of the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons. The exact details vary by report, but the result is the same: his market dried up. Teams that might have offered $10 million or more annually weren’t willing to gamble on a guy who couldn’t stay on the floor. The free agent market turned into a yard sale, and Thybulle was left with a bargain bin price tag.
A Low-Risk Bet for a Team in Transition
The Lakers just watched LeBron James walk out the door. That changes everything about their short-term identity. They are not a superteam anymore. They are a team trying to stay relevant while rebuilding around Anthony Davis and whoever fits around him. Defense matters more now than it did when they could just outscore people.
Thybulle at $3.3 million is a flyer. If his body holds up, he gives them a legitimate stopper on the wing. He can guard 1 through 3, sometimes 4, and he does it with a kind of irritating relentlessness that makes opponents throw bad passes just to get rid of the ball. But if his body doesn’t hold up, the Lakers are out barely more than a minimum deal. No harm done.
What Thybulle Has to Prove
The offense has always been the question. Thybulle’s jumper comes and goes. He shot 33 percent from three two seasons ago and 35 percent the year before that. Respectable enough to keep defenses honest, but nobody is game-planning around him. He’s a play-finisher, not a creator. The Lakers will need him to cut hard, run the floor, and make quick decisions when the ball swings his way.
But the defensive side is the reason this deal exists. Thybulle can still move his feet. He can still read passing lanes. He can still make life miserable for the other team’s best perimeter scorer. The question is whether he can do it for 70 games instead of 40.
The Lakers are betting he can. And at this price, it’s hard to argue with the logic.
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