Los Angeles Lakers Player Spotlight: Danny Green

Danny Green is one of the new faces on the Los Angeles Lakers that has the instrumental role as the team’s three and D specialist.

The next player that will be covered in the “Los Angeles Lakers Player Spotlight” series is Danny Green.

Biography

Danny Green spent four seasons in college at North Carolina. He was not given much of a chance to show what he could do with the Tar Heels until his senior season.

In the first three years of Green’s college career, he only started in a single game. However, once Roy Williams gave Green the shot he needed, both Danny and the Tar Heels benefitted greatly. In his senior season, Green led North Carolina to a National Championship victory with a season stat line of 13.1 points per game on an insane 41% three-point percentage.

After college, Green was the 46th overall pick to the Cleveland Cavaliers. However, a year after he was waived by the team. He was then picked up by the San Antonio Spurs where he spent some time with the D-League team and the NBA team.

In his time with the Spurs, Danny won one championship against the big three of the Miami Heat. After eight years with the Spurs, Danny Green, along with Kawhi Leonard, was traded from the Spurs to the Toronto Raptors.

In his lone season with the Raptors, Green, similarly to the 2014 season with the Spurs, played a crucial role in a championship-winning team. After the 2018 season, Danny Green signed a two-year contract with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Strengths And Weaknesses

Danny Green is one of the all-time three-point shooters in NBA history. From early in his career this has been possibly Green’s best strength. Along with this, he is an elite perimeter defender.

Green is typically the player that will guard the best opposing perimeter player. More times than not, Green will win that matchup defensively. One weakness in his game is his inability to create his shot or create shots for others.

This can sometimes cause him to be a liability on offense if he is having an off night shooting or a ball-handler like LeBron James or Rajon Rondo is not playing. Also, Green at times is a poor rebounder. Throughout his career, he only averages 3.5 rebounds a game. While this is not the worst, it is something that could be improved on.

What He Brings To The Team

Danny is a model player for the Lakers. He is someone who LeBron or Anthony Davis can kick the ball out to when they are being double-teamed or are driving towards the basket. More times than not in these scenarios it will result in three points for the Lakers.

Also, Green’s defensive ability will allow the Lakers to have him guard the best perimeter players in the league like Kawhi Leonard and Luka Doncic.

This is a skill that will be very useful in the playoffs as it will allow LeBron to take possessions off on defense and have the energy to be the workhorse on offense that he will likely need to be for the Lakers to have any success in the playoffs.

Danny Green was a great signing for the Lakers and should be someone who will be extremely helpful to the team for the rest of his contract if not longer.