Lakers make it rain from 3-point range against Nets, showing off a new dimension
As Brooklyn Nets forward Mikal Bridges lofted a floater toward the rim, Los Angeles Lakers big man Anthony Davis rotated over and swatted the ball against the backboard.
Teammate Austin Reaves corralled the loose ball and pushed it in transition. As he surveyed the floor, Reaves, realizing he had an opening for a shot, pulled up for 3 that swished through the net.
Within six seconds, the Lakers turned defense into offense, one of head coach Darvin Ham’s preseason emphases.
The Lakers’ starting lineup of Davis, LeBron James, Taurean Prince, Reaves and D’Angelo Russell played fast and free in the team’s 129-126 victory over Brooklyn in its second preseason game. That unit ran at every opportunity, launching 3s at a similar rate to their more modern counterparts. The Lakers made 12 of their 29 3-point attempts (41.4 percent) in the first half with a semi-regular rotation and shot 20-of-55 from 3 overall – both gargantuan numbers.
“That’s one of our goals,” Ham said after the game. “We want to get our attempts up. We don’t want to go crazy. Like, we still want to be a team that loves and lives in the paint. … And so, we feel really good. AD being a willing shooter from that distance and not hesitating. We feel it’s a good mixture of guys where we can have a really strong 1-2 punch. Starting in the paint but obviously being able to throw them up from long distance – and make ’em.”
The Lakers have been a below-average 3-point shooting in terms of makes, attempts and percentage every season since Davis and LeBron James teamed up in 2019. Last season, the Lakers ranked just 24th in 3-point makes, 26th in 3-point attempts and 25th in 3-point percentage. After their trade deadline makeover, those figures improved, though only marginally (19th in makes, 19th in attempts and 16th in percentage). But that didn’t translate into the playoffs, where Los Angeles ranked 13th in makes out of 16 teams, 14th in attempts and 11th in percentage.
Whether the Lakers become an average to above-average 3-point shooting team – they don’t have the shooters to rank among the league’s elite – remains to be seen. But the early returns are encouraging. With the obvious preseason caveats applied, Monday’s first-half figure (12 3-pointers and 29 3-point attempts) would’ve ranked second and first for the Lakers in a regular season half last season. The 41.4 percent mark would’ve ranked second in games the Lakers attempted at least 25 3s in a half.
The Lakers’ offseason additions tilted more toward offense, particularly 3-point shooting. Prince and offseason big-man signing Christian Wood are 37-to-39 percent 3-point shooters. Gabe Vincent is slightly below-average in terms of percentage for his career (33.9 percent), but that’s partly because he takes so many, which still has value. He also bumped up to 37.8 percent on 6.1 attempts per game during the Miami Heat’s Finals run last season.
“We have better shooting this year,” James said. “We have a lot of guys who shot the ball extremely well from the 3-point line last year. You look at Taurean, Gabe, and Rui (Hachimura) ended the year shooting it extremely well. DLo shoots it. AR shoots it. And myself and AD, we’ll sprinkle it in as well. Obviously, it starts with putting pressure on the rim and still getting to the free-throw line. Starts with myself and AD. But when teams go under pick and rolls or teams disrespect us from the perimeter, we have enough shooting where we believe we can go up there and knock them down with confidence and at a high clip.”
For the Lakers to win a championship, they must shoot notably better from downtown than they did last season. The modern game demands it.
“The way the league has shifted, a lot of 3s,” Davis said. “… We just want to be confident in our shots and let it fly.”
LeOwner in Las Vegas
At this point, James’ interest in owning the NBA’s potential Las Vegas expansion team is well-known.
In June of 2022, James debuted his interest on an episode of his YouTube show “The Shop: Uninterrupted.”
“I want a team in Vegas,” James said. “I want the team in Vegas.”
He doubled down when the Lakers played the Phoenix Suns in Las Vegas last preseason. “I would love to bring a team here at some point,” James said. “That would be amazing. … I want the team here, Adam (Silver). Thank you.” Then, he tripled down at the 2023 All-Star Weekend in Salt Lake City, once again reiterating his desires.
With James back in Vegas for the Lakers’ annual preseason tilt, a reporter asked James why he specifically wants to own a potential NBA team in the city.
“It just makes sense,” James said. “You have the Raiders here, the Knights here, the Aces here. You’ve got F1 coming very soon. All-Star Weekend has been here, the NBA Summer League, that’s very popular. Sports, it’s here. I think adding an NBA franchise here would just add to the momentum that’s going on in this town. It’s an attraction. … You don’t have to worry about getting fan support, nothing like that. They’ve shown that, every single time, every year, every summer from USA basketball or NBA Summer League, whatever the case might be.
“I think it’s only right. I think it’s only a matter of time, and I hope I’m a part of that time.”
If and when Las Vegas gets an expansion team, James, one of the most powerful figures in NBA history, is going to factor in heavily to that process – if not be the outright favorite to purchase the franchise.
As for how James would fare in such a role, Ham said that James would be a “phenomenal owner” and “would definitely excel.”
A plot twist in the Lakers’ fifth starter saga
Monday’s game was the first chance to see the potential opening night starting lineup, as James and Reaves were each available to play after sitting out Saturday’s preseason opener. In a surprising twist in the only interesting remaining preseason subplot, Prince earned the start as the fifth starter over Hachimura (Jarred Vanderbilt, the other candidate for the position, did not play because of left heel soreness).
“I thought (Prince’s) fit was great,” Ham said. “… It’s just trying to see different bodies in there with those guys. I thought he did a great job just staying in rhythm with the group. Not disrupting anything those other guys were trying to do. He’s a smart player. You have to account for him at the 3-point line. So he provides space to the other guys. I thought it was good, it was just us wanting to see him and get a different look.”
Prince scored 13 points (5-for-7 shooting, three 3s) in 20 minutes. The only knock on him thus far has been his fouling; he has amassed 11 infractions in 33 minutes and fouled out in just 13 minutes in Saturday’s opener. He isn’t the perimeter defender that Vanderbilt is, and he doesn’t have the size or scoring ability of Hachimura. But Prince is the best shooter of the three by a wide margin, and that matters when maximizing lineups around the paint-attacking tandem of James and Davis.
There has been a slew of misdirection with the small forward spot. Last week, Ham said that the competition was settled a few days into camp, yet on Monday, he seemed to indicate the team was still evaluating how players fit with the starters. The team could’ve made its choice and still be experimenting, to be sure. But had Prince been the choice, it would’ve made sense to start him on Saturday against the Warriors. Instead, Ham started Vanderbilt and Hachimura with James sitting, which suggested one of the two was in the lead. Frankly, they had been the two leading candidates until Prince’s emergence in camp.
Prince starting against Brooklyn could be a sign that he’s the favorite for the spot. It could just mean he’s ahead of Hachimura, and/or the Lakers simply prefer Hachimura off the bench. It could also mean Vanderbilt is the starter and Prince was a placeholder. Or, Hachimura could be the choice and Ham is trying to throw everyone off the scent. It seems we’re unlikely to know until next week.
Injury updates
Cam Reddish (right ankle soreness) and Vanderbilt (left heel soreness) are day-to-day with their respective injuries.
Reddish suffered his injury late in the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ preseason-opening loss to the Warriors. Vanderbilt’s heel soreness surfaced in practice last week and is an issue that “has been kind of one that’s building.”
Ham repeated multiple times that the Lakers were sitting both players for precautionary reasons and that if this were the playoffs, both players would be available.
“Being that it is early, earlier than early, we thought it was best as we put our heads together with the medical staff and such to just not push it and give them time to let those things calm down,” Ham said.
Ham said neither player is expected to miss any time in the regular season as of now.
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