The Los Angeles Lakers made just one move at the Feb. 5 trade deadline, acquiring Luke Kennard from the Atlanta Hawks. The move was met with some skepticism, but Kennard has fit in well with these Lakers. In his courtside interview following Sunday’s 128-104 win over the Sacramento Kings, the guard credited his teammates for enabling him to succeed.
“These guys have built confidence in me since I’ve gotten here,” Kennard said, via Spectrum SportsNet. “They’ve told me, you’re not just a shooter. We want you to make plays when you can, be aggressive. I feel like playing with these guys, I mean, they make you look great out there. Luka [Doncic], [LeBron James], [Austin Reaves], they obviously caused a lot of attention.
“I’m just excited to play off of them and do what I can,” Kennard added. “So far, I feel like I’ve fit pretty well.”
Kennard was viewed as just a spot-up three-pointer, but he has shown he is more than that. The 29-year-old has an underrated handle and can playmake as well. We have seen Kennard attack the basket too, and he has been a huge upgrade over Gabe Vincent, whom the Lakers traded to the Hawks to acquire him. Vincent is a better defender, but is nowhere near as good on offense.
LeBron James sang Kennard’s praises after his Lakers debut against the Golden State Warriors on Feb. 7. James particularly loved to see the playmaking.
Against the Kings here, Kennard put up 11 points (4-10 FG), one rebound, five assists, one steal, and one block. He played 26 minutes and had a plus-minus of +17.
The night before, Kennard had 16 points in Saturday’s 129-101 win over the Warriors. Lakers head coach JJ Redick loved what he saw from his fellow former Duke Blue Devil and was full of praise for him in his postgame press conference.
“Luke Kennard, he just starts the blender for us,” Redick said, via Spectrum SportsNet. “We frankly have not had a ton of blender starters. Obviously, like Luka gets two on the ball, AR will get two on the ball, LeBron will get two on the ball, but just to be able to create a closeout and then make the right read and right play from there. I thought our guys were incredibly unselfish tonight.
“But it started with that starting group, and then I thought Luke was huge for our offense tonight,” Redick added.
Redick later pointed out just how Kennard is helping to keep this Lakers offense ticking.
“He’s got a really good ‘we score’ mentality,” Redick said. “A play can be for him, but he’s gonna hunt out the best shot and play for the team, and all of the guys benefit from that when the ball moves. I mean, look, I had an ATO for him in the second half. He scores on it. Could’ve shot it off the initial screen, created the blender, eventually got it back, hits a step-back 3.
“We run it again, and this is where he’s a cerebral player,” Redick continued. “Pat Spencer tries to top block him, and he screens his own into [Jake LaRavia’s] guy, Smart hits Jake for a layup. That’s just connective offense right there, and that’s just what Luke does.”
Kennard is now averaging 10.2 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.1 blocks per game for the Lakers while shooting 60.9% from the field and 48.3% from beyond the arc. The efficiency is ridiculous. He is the kind of shooter that this team needed.
The Lakers improved to 36-24 with this win over the Kings and will take on the New Orleans Pelicans next at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday at 10:30 p.m. ET.
