Los Angeles Lakers: Players with the most intriguing storylines this year
By Jason Reed
2. Moritz Wagner
Just like how the Los Angeles Lakers are one of the NBA’s highest variance teams in terms of wins, Moritz Wagner is perhaps the player with the highest variance of potential minutes played for the team this season.
Wagner could play anywhere from 10 minutes a game all the way up to 25 minutes a game. This season is going to be a huge test for Wagner, who can benefit the most by the Lakers’ lack of a long-term option at the center position.
Wagner is everything that the Lakers needed out of a big man to play alongside LeBron James. He has a knockdown three-point shot that makes him a perfect stretch four option. At six-foot-eleven, he also has the size to play the center position.
This makes Wagner a very similar piece in the Lakers’ offense as Kevin Love was for the Cleveland Cavaliers the last season.
If Wagner can become a reliable rim protector and as good of a rebounder as JaVale McGee, he is going to begin to see a ton of minutes off the bench as the spark plug big man.
However, if he struggles with the physicality of NBA big men and ends up being a three-point specialist only, he is going to see small minutes at the end of quarters with the second unit.