The Los Angeles Lakers will welcome several new faces this season after a busy offseason.

Walker Kessler joins the team from the Utah Jazz as the new starting center, while Quentin Grimes, who played last season with the Philadelphia 76ers, and Sandro Mamukelashvili, who was with the Toronto Raptors, could be the new starting forwards.

Coming off the bench will be guards Collin Sexton (Chicago Bulls), Jaden Hardy (Washington Wizards), center Kevon Looney (New Orleans Pelicans), and forwards Ziaire Williams (Brooklyn Nets) and Matisse Thybulle (Portland Trail Blazers).

Thybulle and Williams join as defensive aces the Lakers hope will stifle opponents’ top players and create turnovers.

Thybulle is set to wear #26, which he says he chose because it combines his two previous numbers. He wore 22 in Philadelphia and 4 in Portland.

Appearing on the Lakers YouTube Channel in a Getting To Know segment, Thybulle said that he’s looking at this as a new opportunity to play in new colors, so he wanted a new number.

“I think it’s a special opportunity to play for such a historic franchise, an accomplished franchise. To contribute in an arena and wear a jersey that so many great players have worn is something I’m excited about,” he said.

Last season with the Blazers, Thybulle played in 30 games, averaging 5.8 points, two rebounds, and 0,9 assists. Defensively, he averaged two steals and 0.5 blocks per game.

Thybulle is hoping for a fresh start on the court, and Lakers fans are just hoping he can stay on the court. He’s played in just 45 games combined over the past two seasons, dealing with knee, ankle, and thumb issues.

He missed 43 games after undergoing thumb surgery last season, and missed 66 games in 2024-25 after knee surgery and dealing with an ankle sprain.

He did play in the final 26 games of the regular season last year and in four of Portland’s five playoff games against the San Antonio Spurs.

When he was on the court, he was a defensive ace who spaced the floor, shooting 39% from three on three attempts per game. His shooting fell off a cliff in the playoffs as he hit just 9% of his threes, and there is concern that his regular season shooting simply doesn’t translate to the playoffs, where he’s shot 27% from three in 29 career games.

If his shooting carries over to the playoffs, and his defense is as good as advertised (Portland was +12.7 better on defense with him on the floor last year, double the next-best player on the team), then the Lakers have a real threat off the bench.