Lakers preseason fan-favorite gets deserved contract after balling out against Warriors

When an NBA team loses by 58 points, it's tough to find bright spots. But the Los Angeles Lakers did! Well, there are two bright spots. The first bright spot is that Los Angeles lost by 58 in preseason so the game doesn't count and no one will remember it. The second bright spot is that LA may have discovered a rookie gem in this game, as Quincy Olivari played well enough to earn a two-way contract with the Lakers.

Olivari scored 22 points, shot 8-16 from the field, hit five 3-pointers, and grabbed seven rebounds in the Lakers preseason finale, and LA's front office saw enough to ink the undrafted rookie to a deal. Or maybe they just read Twitter, where Lakers fans were clamoring for Olivari to earn a spot. Either one works!

To say Olivari "came out of nowhere" would be an overstatement because he was one of the best players in the Big East last season at Xavier, where he averaged 19.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.4 steals and shot 40.9% from 3-point range with the Musketeers.

But he wasn't on the radar for any teams in the draft, going undrafted this year, and making the Lakers preseason roster on a training camp deal. To see him earn a spot in the NBA this quickly is a pretty awesome story. It's impossible not to root for guys who grind their way to an NBA career, and Olivari seems like the kind of worker who might do just that.

Quincy Olivari gets emotional after meeting his basketball idol Steph Curry

The stars of the NBA have been around so long that we're starting to see rookies enter the league having grown up watching the same guys who are still the faces of the sport. Steph Curry is a prime example of this, and as Curry enters year 16 in the league, he remains a hero for a lot of the young guys. Quincy Olivari said after his big game versus the Warriors that Curry was his favorite player growing up, and got emotional when talking about meeting Curry after his breakout game.

We often forget that players enter the league as teenagers or early-20s young adults and they were all fans of the NBA before making it to the NBA. It's cool to see a player show love to one of his idols instead of pretending like it doesn't mean anything to meet a superstar.