Lakers’ Jarred Vanderbilt Issues Strong Statement After Locking Up Luka Doncic

Getty Jarred Vanderbilt and Luka Doncic

Los Angeles Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt played excellent defense on Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic on February 26. With Vanderbilt as the primary defender, Doncic shot 0-of-3 from the floor and turned the ball over five times.

Vanderbilt’s defense helped the Lakers erase a 27-point deficit against the Mavericks and win by three points.

“My mindset was to just make him uncomfortable,” Vanderbilt said during his postgame press conference. “He’s a hell of a player when he’s comfortable and gets into his rhythm and gets into his zone. I was just trying to disrupt that, just picking him up 94, making him work.”

Vanderbilt finished with 15 points, 17 rebounds and four steals while shooting 6-of-8 from the field versus the Mavericks. The Kentucky product, who was acquired by the Lakers at the trade deadline from the Utah Jazz, had a plus-minus of +14.

“That’s why he’s here, to create havoc with his energy and his efforts,” Lakers head coach Darvin Ham said during his postgame presser. “And his size and athleticism, his quickness, all of that, was on full display tonight.”

LeBron James & Anthony Davis Love Jarred Vanderbilt

Lakers superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis love Vanderbilt, who is averaging 8.6 points and 8.8 rebounds in five games with the purple and gold. Both All-Stars had high praise for the 23-year-old Texas native after Los Angeles defeated Dallas.

“I think some guys in our league when you’re not great at something, teams are able to use that to their advantage defensively and either sag off of you or play off of you,” James said. “Sometimes, you’re playing offense 5 on 4, whatever the case may be. His basketball IQ and his intelligence of being guarded this way for so long has actually used it to his advantage. Teams turn their head because they’re not paying attention to him because they don’t think he’s a threat, goes backdoor for a layup as you saw in the fourth quarter on the reverse. Teams are not accounting for him when shots go up, so you saw the eight offensive rebounds that he had.”

Added Davis: “Being down 27, 14 at half and he comes out and set the tone for us defensively on Luka. Getting some steals. Making him shoot some tough shots. His rebounding on both ends of the floor. He just started an effect for our group to lock in defensively. On the other end, he knows guys like to play off of him and make him shoot and he knows how to play off it with his corner cutting and crashing into the glass, getting us extra possessions. His value for our team, you can’t even put it into words what he brings and does for us. Having a player like that definitely helps us.”

Doncic had 26 points, nine rebounds and five assists against the Lakers. However, the MVP candidate had six turnovers, with five of them coming when Vanderbilt was in front of him.

The Lakers Are Thriving With LeBron James, Anthony Davis & Jarred Vanderbilt

The Lakers have outscored opponents by 40 points in the three games Vanderbilt has played with James and Davis, according to Jovan Buha of The Athletic. It appears Los Angeles has a new Big 3.

“Vanderbilt’s per-game averages are exactly in line with a high-end role player: 8.3 points, 8.8 rebounds, 1.6 steals, 69.2 percent shooting. But his impact extends far beyond the box score. In the three games he’s played with James and Davis, the Lakers have outscored opponents by 40 points, the second-best mark on the team,” Buha wrote. “The Lakers (29-32) are 4-1 since his arrival, with Vanderbilt playing an instrumental role thus far. Vanderbilt wasn’t the headliner of the three-team Westbrook-Russell trade, but he might end up being the most impactful addition to the deal. He’s one of the few Lakers under contract for next season, and at $4.3 million this season and $4.7 million next season, he’s shaping up to be perhaps the steal of the trade deadline.”