Getty Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka faces some difficult decisions as the NBA trade deadline approaches.
The Los Angeles Lakers could make a difficult decision given the struggles of veteran center DeAndre Jordan. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst believes Jordan is in danger of potentially being cut to keep one of the recent 10-day contract additions like forward Stanley Johnson.
“A team to watch is the Lakers, so [the] Lakers have a full roster and they’re cost sensitive,” Windhorst explained during the December 28 edition of The Hoop Collective podcast. “But DeAndre Jordan is playing very poorly for them, and basically LeBron is playing a lot of minutes at center right now. I don’t think he’s starting at center but the second half on Christmas they started him at center…or they played Carmelo for a few minutes at center, which was laughable.
“It could be a situation where the Lakers are like, we’re going to cut DeAndre Jordan to keep a player, possibly, if Stanley Johnson works out or something like that.”
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Jordan Has the Lowest Plus-Minus Number of Any Lakers Player
How bad has Jordan been for the Lakers? Jordan has a -96 plus-minus this season, the lowest of any player on the Lakers roster, per Stat Muse. Jordan is averaging 4.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and .9 blocks in 13.2 minutes per game, some of the lowest numbers of his career.
It is a very limited sample size, but Johnson has been a productive player for the Lakers in his two appearances. Johnson is averaging eight points, three rebounds, 1.5 assists and a steal in 29.5 minutes per contest.
The one knock on Johnson throughout his NBA tenure has been his shooting as the forward is a career 29.7% three-point shooter. Johnson’s play has already caught the eye of LeBron James.
“Energy and effort, and I thought Stanley was phenomenal,” James noted after the Lakers’ loss to the Nets on Christmas Day, per USA Today. “Just taking the challenge on James (Harden) and obviously, James did what he does, but I think he just took the challenge.”
Johnson Has a Good Chance to Remain on the Lakers Roster
Stanley Johnson carves his way in for the hoop and the harm 😤
The recent COVID outbreak around the NBA has prompted a wave of players signing 10-day contracts. Windhorst believes some of these players have the potential to stick on the roster, including Johnson.
“Right off the bat, Stanley Johnson comes in plays one game with the Lakers and makes an impact,” Windhorst noted. “And there’s people in L.A. going, ‘Boy, if Stanley Johnson keeps playing like this they might have to find a spot for him.’ I don’t know if that will be the case, if it will be Stanley Johnson, but I suspect that there will be some net positive out of this in that some guys will be like, wait a minute.”
Prior to being sidelined on the COVID list, Lakers head coach Frank Vogel favored playing Dwight Howard over Jordan in recent weeks. During a December 2 press conference, Vogel revealed that the Lakers planned to only play one of the big men each game and hinted that Howard had the current edge over Jordan.
“We made a decision to only use one of them unless, obviously, we have foul trouble or whatnot, and it was DeAndre for a bit,” Vogel told reporters. “I decided in the middle of first quarter last game that I wanted to see what Dwight could do, and it was Dwight for the rest of that game.
“…But it will be a situation we just monitor really on a game-to-game basis going forward but with the intention of really just giving those center minutes to one player not two. Whether it’s DeAndre or Dwight.”