The Lakers need two things desperately for the upcoming season: Defensive prowess and three-point shooting. It looks like they are looking within to see if they can improve their present shooters to an elite level.
One of the names from the roster that is coming up repeatedly is Jarred Vanderbilt. The six-foot-eight power forward has been a consistent defensive force for the team, doing the grunt work and picking up the rebounds. The team has declared that, despite other teams’ interest in him, he will be suiting up for the purple and gold only. Recently, footage of Vanderbilt making shot after shot in training went viral.
“Great feet,” Ja Morant wrote in response to the viral clip where Vanderbilt is showing off his shooting mechanics with teammate Jake LaRavia.
A look at Jarred Vanderbilt’s improved shooting mechanics as he gets shots up with Jake LaRavia pic.twitter.com/OqhG4GbBS9
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) October 1, 2025
The Lakers need all the shooting they can get. Last season, they had a shooting percentage of 36% from the three-point line as a team. That makes them a middle-of-the-pack shooting team. But that does not correspond with their championship dreams. Their current offense is heavily dependent on their star players, Luka Doncic and LeBron James. But they need to have shooting options to solve the spacing issue. If Jarred Vanderbilt can step up in this situation, it will be a big advantage for them.
“I mean, it’s gotten much better. I know early on in my career, we didn’t respect him as a shooter, but it’s fair to say he can shoot the ball very well now. He’s been hitting shots. I don’t know if he tweaked something, but yeah, it looks really good now,” LaRavia told the media.
Is he the secret weapon the Los Angeles Lakers were looking for to complement their top-heavy roster? Let’s break it down.
Vanderbilt has played for four teams in the league. Over that time, he has averaged 5.9 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 1.1 assists, while shooting at a rate of 56% from the field and 28.8% from the three-point line.
Last season, his minutes were down to sixteen per game, and he struggled to be part of rotations. But this year, he plans to become an efficient defensive wing who can shoot from the perimeter. However, shooting in a game with pressure on you versus shooting during training with no hands in your face are two very different scenarios. We all saw Ben Simmons drill shot after shot in the offseason and then showcase the same old inabilities during games.
Lakers seven-foot-tall center Christian Koloko said that the coaching staff gave him a green light to shoot in the offseason, but that would be taken away once the season started. Similarly, Vanderbilt will have a small window to prove that he’s a viable offensive option.
His defensive grit points to a hunger for taking up responsibilities. Now, all he needs to do is get his three-point numbers up by five-six percent, where he’s shooting around 33% from the three-point line. He can achieve this by making open shots from the perimeter. Due to his image as an average shooter, he tends to get a lot of open shots. All he needs to do is convert them, and he becomes a much more attractive player for the Lakers to add to their different lineups.
As of now, all we have seen are training camp videos and comments from teammates who mean well. This does not showcase any real potential for him to become a serious three-point threat. He might be able to supplement some of the volume shooting that they need, but someone else will have to become the secret weapon.
