The Lakers extended a contract offer to Colin Castleton, making him a restricted free agent, as their last transaction before the start of free agency.

A lot of stuff happened on the hectic Saturday for the Lakers, and the day finished with what may have been the quietest move of them all. Colin Castleton became a restricted free agent after the Lakers made him a two-way contract offer in the last move of the day.

Castleton played for the South Bay Lakers for the duration of the previous campaign.

The Los Angeles Lakers tendered a two-way qualifying offer to Colin Castleton, a league source told @spotrac.

He’s now a restricted free agent.

— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) June 30, 2024

Castleton was a two-way player when he signed with the Lakers last season, but his impressive performance during Summer League did not translate into much playing time; in 16 games, he saw just 59 minutes of action, all of which were garbage time.

In the G League, he had much more success, playing in 12 games and averaging 18.7 points, shooting 60.1% from the field, grabbing 11.3 rebounds per game, and putting up 1.3 blocks and 3.6 assists per game.

Given that Castleton is a perfectly serviceable two-way player, it makes sense that the Lakers would be interested in having him return.

If the Lakers made him a two-way offer, it’s unlikely that he won’t come back either. Maybe another team could intervene and make things more complicated, but it doesn’t seem probable that he will be lured away by a sizable offer because he wasn’t a particularly good two-way player the previous season and didn’t have a significant sample size in the G League.

He’ll be a wonderful player for the G League, a squad that will likely have Bronny James and will definitely have the team’s new two-way signings. Overall, it seems sensible to keep him on board.