Lakers Player Grades Since LeBron James Got Hurt
The Los Angeles Lakers have had to navigate a whole new world over the past few weeks after losing their leader LeBron James. While the loss of Anthony Davis was certainly difficult, losing James robbed the Lakers of their offensive quarterback and their defensive middle linebacker. So this latest edition of player grades will reflect how the Lakers have faired since LeBron James went down.
And considering they don’t have LeBron, we will be grading things on a LeBron Curve. James has been out for 12 games and is expected to miss at least another two weeks, with eight of those 12 games coming on the road for the Lakers. There have been several Lakers who’ve stepped up and a few who have struggled lately as they fight to improve their playoff position.
Nell Redmond-USA TODAY Sports
Shooting 44% from the 3-point line in 12 games since LeBron went down. KCP averaging 12.5 points on the road vs. 8 at home. His defense has also been on-point as always.
Alex Caruso: B+
Nell Redmond-USA TODAY Sports
Caruso is shooting 50% from the 3-point line. His defense has been great and he, like KCP, has also been scoring more on the road than he has at home over the past few weeks. Caruso has also bumped up his playmaking, averaging 3 assists per game in LeBron's absence.
Andre Drummond: B-
Nell Redmond-USA TODAY Sports
He was injured early, but he was a star against the Nets in probably their win of the year.
Marc Gasol: C+
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
He's been benched since Drummond got there. But the Lakers have had their best defensive rating with Gasol on the floor since LeBron got hurt.
Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
Horton-Tucker has been given a role mostly all season but that role has expanded without the Lakers stars. He had some big plays on the road, including some key finishes against the Nets. Horton-Tucker is shooting 32.3% from the 3-point line, a slight step up for him while scoring nearly 10 points per game.
Montrezl Harrell: B+
(AP Photo/Corey Sipkin)
Perhaps it's a casualty of adding another center but Montrezl Harrell's numbers are down across the board. He's also been very vocal on social media about going through some mental health struggles as of late following the death of his grandmother. While the numbers are what they are, here's hoping that Montrezl can find some health moving forward. Props to him for showing up.
Kyle Kuzma: A
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Kuz has stepped his game up. Over the past few years he's become a much better defender and when the Lakers have needed it lately, he's also upped his scoring to 16 points per game over his last 10 games. Kuzma has missed a few with injury but when he's healthy, he's showed up big time.
(Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
Matthews has played hard like always when available but has been in and out of the lineup with injury lately. Ben McLemore also came to take whatever playing time Matthews had been getting.
(AP Photo/Corey Sipkin)
Markieff Morris is another one of the guys who has stepped up his production. He's nearly doubled his scoring average over the last 12 games, averaging nearly 13 points per game with shooting splits of 50/40/100 over that same period.
Dennis Schröder: A
(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
Schroder has been the offensive engine for the Lakers. He's also shooting over 40 percent from the 3-point line on nearly four attempts per game go with nearly 8 assists per game.
Ben McLemore, Jared Dudley: Pass
Not enough to give full grades for either.
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