Lakers sign Andre Drummond, who posts he’s ready to get ‘back to work’

Though it had yet to be announced that Andre Drummond would join the Lakers, the center posted on his Instagram account about playing for the defending NBA champions.

Drummond had a picture of himself in a Lakers jersey with his hands wrapped around a basketball.

“Back to work,” Drummond wrote along with two hearts, in purple and gold.

When Lakers coach Frank Vogel was asked in his pregame videoconference about Drummond agreeing to sign with the Lakers after he cleared waivers following a buyout by the Cleveland Cavaliers, Vogel smiled before giving his answer.

“Unfortunately it’s not 100% official yet,” Vogel told reporters. “And I’ve been asked to refrain from commenting until it is. So, unfortunately, I got to say ‘no comment’ for now. I’ll be happy to answer questions on Andre when it becomes official.”

It became official soon after, the Lakers releasing a statement an hour before their game Sunday night against the Orlando Magic.

“Andre Drummond gives us powerful, anchor-point skills on both ends of the court,” said Rob Pelinka, the Lakers’ general manager and vice president of basketball operations. “We feel extremely fortunate to add a player of his caliber and magnitude to our core group at this stage of our journey to defend the NBA title.”

In 25 games with the Cavaliers this season, Drummond averaged 17.5 points and 13.5 rebounds in 28.9 minutes per game, with 2.6 assists and 1.2 blocks.

Drummond will be the third center on the Lakers’ roster, joining starter Marc Gasol and super-sub Montrezl Harrell.

Vogel was asked if he had any conversation with Gasol and Harrell about the Lakers looking to sign another center.

“Yeah, we always make sure we overdo communication and be respectful to our players and let them know where we are coming from with everything that we do,” Vogel said. “That is the case in this situation, and we’ll keep the nature of those conversations private. But for sure we’re making sure we’re overcommunicating.”