The Los Angeles Lakers‘ seven-game winning run ended in the 125-108 loss to the Phoenix Suns at Crypto.com Arena on Monday, but another streak lived on in that game. It was the sixth straight game in which Jarred Vanderbilt hadn’t featured, and head coach JJ Redick spoke about the forward no longer being in the Lakers’ rotation in his pregame press conference.
“Yeah, I mean, he’s been good,’ Redick said, via Dave McMenamin. “He’s been a pro. He’s been great. In the most recent stay ready [game] that we had this week, he was great. He’s been a great teammate. So, no surprise there. I had communicated to him, even before LeBron came back, that there were certain things that he needed to be able to do consistently to play before LeBron [James] came back, after LeBron came back.
“And that there potentially was going to be a numbers crunch because we were probably going to play a nine-man rotation,” Redick continued. “And that was just the reality. Having said that, it doesn’t mean that he’s not going to be back in the rotation at some point, whether we’re healthy or whether we’re missing a couple guys. When you’re winning games, it’s hard to re-do the rotation mid-winning streak.
“So, we’re looking at everything,” Redick added. “And there were some lineup combinations when we were injured that we had to go away from, and he was, I guess, caught up as sort of an innocent bystander in some ways, to that. I certainly had empathy for him, and it’s not a fun situation to be in as a coach, and it’s certainly not a fun situation for him to be in as a player.”
Vanderbilt featured in each of the first 14 games of the 2025-26 season for the Lakers. The 26-year-old averaged 4.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game while shooting 44.0% from the field and 28.6% from beyond the arc.
The biggest knock on Vanderbilt has always been the fact that he is a non-factor offensively. There was hope that things would be different this season after Jake LaRavia stated during training camp that he was shooting very well. The outside shots didn’t go in at even a decent rate, though, once the action commenced.
Vanderbilt last got some game time in the 119-95 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Nov. 15. Despite LeBron James and Rui Hachimura being out against the Bucks, Redick only played him for eight minutes. That made you wonder how much Vanderbilt would play once they were back, and the answer is he wouldn’t play at all.
James made his season debut in the Lakers’ next game against the Utah Jazz on Nov. 18, and we haven’t seen Vanderbilt since. They won the first five games that he didn’t play, and as Redick stated, you’re not going to make changes to the rotation when all is going well.
It will likely take the Lakers, who are now 15-5, having an injury crisis or going on a bad run, for Vanderbilt to get back in. He can’t complain too much about it, since he was given 14 games to show he deserved to get minutes even when everyone was healthy.
We came up with the three best landing spots for Vanderbilt in case he or the Lakers decide it’s time to part ways. Trading him is going to be difficult, though, as he is in the second year of a four-year, $48 million extension.
Vanderbilt has a $13.2 million player option for 2027-28, so any team that takes him on will have him on their books for a fairly long period of time. Giving him that extension has turned out to be a big mistake.
The Lakers take on the Toronto Raptors next at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday at 7:30 PM ET. Don’t expect to see Vanderbilt in action in that one.
