The Los Angeles Lakers will get a familiar face back in the starting lineup tonight against the L.A. Clippers. Head coach Luke Walton has elected to insert Larry Nance Jr. back into the starting five and as a result, Kyle Kuzma will now come off the bench.
Before Monday's game, Walton spoke to the media and gave his reasoning for making Nance a starter once again. The second-year head coach believes an injury shouldn't impact a player's role as a starter.
“One of them is our rebounding has started to slip a little bit and he's been one of our best rebounders,” Walton said of Nance. “Another one is I don't believe in players losing starting positions from getting hurt. I think [Kyle] Kuzma did a very nice job filling in for him, but now that Larry is ready to play again we'll put him back to the spot he earned in training camp.”
With Kuzma being the team's leading scorer coming into the matchup with the Clippers at 16.8 points per game, the rookie being regulated to a bench role once again is going to make headlines. It could be argued Kuzma has been the Lakers' best player so far this season putting a lot of pressure on Nance to not miss a beat in his return to the floor.
Although Nance isn't the scorer that Kuzma has proven to be early in the season, the 24-year-old is one of those players that does a lot on the floor that simply doesn't show up on the stat sheet at the end of the night. Nance is a coach's dream as he's willing to do the dirty work while not caring about getting recognition or needing to be in the limelight in Los Angeles.
Nance played eight games before going down with the wrist injury. The Wyoming product shot 61.4 percent from the floor while averaging 10.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game.
Follow Us
Subscribe