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Essentially the most constant story surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers this season has been the workforce’s want for roster depth, notably on the middle place.
The group has been linked to a number of gamers, with rumors and hypothesis suggesting the entrance workplace will make a transfer forward of the commerce deadline to solidify the roster and put the workforce able to compete for an NBA title.
One such report got here from Jake Fischer, who instructed B/R that Washington Wizards middle Jonas Valančiūnas “is certainly a reputation that you simply proceed to listen to being bandied about as a Lakers commerce goal.”
The large man is the kind of participant that will match the Lakers’ wants.
At 32, he’s a veteran who has performed quite a lot of basketball within the NBA. He has performed a lot of the 82-game schedule all through his 14-year profession, displaying a sturdiness {that a} workforce like L.A., with its many accidents in recent times, desperately wants.
He has averaged 25.6 minutes per sport all through his profession and in 2024, shoots 58.1 % from the paint. He’s averaging 12 factors a sport, however that could possibly be a mirrored image of taking part in for a foul Wizards workforce greater than proof of diminishing scoring.
The provision and sturdiness are key as a result of they not solely give the Lakers that much-needed depth within the occasion of damage, however additionally they create a state of affairs the place Valančiūnas can begin just a few video games at middle, permitting Anthony Davis to have the evening off or for the MVP candidate to slip out to the ahead place, a spot he a lot quite prefers to the 5.
If nothing else, it takes the stress off of Davis to play 35.5 minutes a sport, which he’s averaging by way of his first 19 of the 12 months, preserving his well being for a playoff run, if the Lakers make it that far in a loaded Western Convention.
Valančiūnas isn’t a flashy participant and possibly won’t encourage an amazing exclamation of pleasure for the rest of the Lakers season. What he’ll do is match properly into JJ Redick’s system and supply the workforce with what it wants versus merely making headlines for a transfer it doesn’t.
He must enhance his three-point capturing (simply 25 % in 2024) as it’s a most well-liked aspect of Redick’s offense, however that may be fine-tuned to enhance every little thing else the large man brings to the desk.
