Lakers Rumors: Predicting each players’ stat-line next season
By Jason Reed
Bench:
6. Jordan Clarkson: 14.4 PPG, 3.1 APG, 1.5 RPG
7. Larry Nance Jr: 9.2 PPG, 1.3 APG, 6.3 RPG
8. Timofey Mozgov: 6.8 PPG, 0.8 APG, 6.5 RPG
9. Luol Deng: 6.4 PPG, 1.1 APG, 4.7 RPG
10. Tyler Ennis: 5.3 PPG, 2.8 APG, 0.4 RPG
Overall, the Lakers bench is fairly thin, if we are being honest. Jordan Clarkson will serve as the sixth man with Lonzo Ball in the mix, and quite frankly, he will be a great scoring option off the bench for the Lakers. As the leader of the second unit, we will likely see Clarkson outscore Ball, who would be starting over him.
Another bright spot is Larry Nance Jr., who shows a lot of promise at the power forward position. With the ability to slam a dunk down like there is no tomorrow, Nance is slowly coming into his own and we will see further improvement in his game. His scoring will inch closer to that 10 points per game mark, and he will be a decent rebounder off the bench.
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As for the rest of the bench, well, it is not the best. Mozgov and Deng are both overpaid veterans who aren’t doing much more than eating away at the Lakers cap room. I would not expect either guy to make much of an impact for the Lakers next season.
As for Ennis, he is another young guy that just does not scream to be an NBA caliber player. We have seen bright spots in his game, but on any other team, he likely would not see the time of day.
Granted, there are more players available to fill in off the bench such as Tarik Black, David Nwaba, and Corey Brewer. While those guys will see time, I do think these five guys will eat the significant amount of minutes off the bench.
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Overall, these Lakers rumors spell that the Lakers will again improve, but won’t turn into anything special. With Ball in the mix, we may see the team cross the 30 win mark for the first time in several seasons.