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The Los Angeles Lakers have been trying to piece their team together since the Luka Doncic trade, adding talent that fits his playstyle. The Lakers signed Alex Len after the trade for Mark Williams from the Charlotte Hornets fell apart, and the hope is that he can offer the team what they need.
In his first game against the Utah Jazz, things did not go particularly well when he was on the court, and this stat should put a lot of things in perspective.
“The Lakers have been outscored by 19 points in the 14 minutes Alex Len has played tonight,” The Athletic's Jovan Buha wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Len is a floor spacer on offense with his ability to knock down perimeter shots, but he doesn't have much impact on the other side of the ball. That could be bad news for the Lakers, especially at the center position, where they don't have many reliable bodies. The one thing that people talked about when trading away Anthony Davis was how the depth in the frontcourt would take a hit, and it showed in the second game that Doncic played in.
The hope is that they can get some better minutes at that position because it can make or break their season.
The Lakers need frontcourt depth
Jaxson Hayes has been starting at center since the Anthony Davis trade, but he left their game against the Jazz early with a facial injury. That left Alex Len and Christian Koloko as the only available centers left, and they weren't able to impact the game enough to get the Lakers a win.
After the game, head coach JJ Redick said that Len was fine in his debut with the Lakers and that he was put in a tough spot because he had to play so many minutes after just joining the team.
If Hayes is out for some games, Len and Koloko will have to step up, and other players such as Rui Hachimura and LeBron James might have to play minutes at center. Trading for Doncic came with getting a top-three player in the league, but they also lost depth at a position that they've needed since the beginning of the season.
If the Lakers can combat their lack of depth in the frontcourt, they should be in good shape for the rest of the season, but if they run into a team that has dominant centers, they could be in trouble.
