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One of the biggest disappointments of the season for the Los Angeles Lakers is the fact that they never got the chance to see Kendrick Nunn take the floor. The 26-year-old ended up sitting out the entire 2021-22 campaign after failing to recover from a lingering knee injury. Well, it looks like the Lakers will get their chance to see Nunn in the lineup next season after the 6-foot-2 point guard announced his decision on his player option for next year.
During his exit interview on Monday, Nunn revealed that he intends to pick up the second year of his two-season deal, which will see him earn a guaranteed $5.3 million:
“Knowing I just took this entire year off, it’s a no-brainer for me to opt-in,” Nunn said (h/t Michael Corvo of ClutchPoints).
Kendrick Nunn says he'll pick up his $5 million player option for next season:
“Knowing I just took this entire year off, it’s a no-brainer for me to opt-in.”
— Michael Corvo (@michaelcorvo_) April 11, 2022
As Nunn said, this is a no-brainer decision for him and this is what pretty much everyone expected him to do. $5.3 million seems like the right amount of money for a player of his caliber. Some might even argue that the Lakers might be overpaying him at this rate. What we can say with some certainty is that Nunn is unlikely to get a significantly better deal with another team if he decided to opt-out of his contract to become a free agent — especially since he's coming off a full year on the shelf.
For what it's worth, Nunn averaged 14.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.6 assists with the Miami Heat during the 2020-21 season. At this point, however, this is all that Nunn has going for him. There's no denying that he has potential, but it's also true that there is no guarantee he will be able to match these numbers when he returns next year.
Nunn admitted to feeling frustrated throughout the season as he tried his best to get healthy again. Unfortunately, despite his full effort, this just wasn't the case. At one point in the season, he just had to accept that he just wasn't going to play this year:
“Throuhgout the season, I'm pretty sure you guys noticed that I've always been trying to ramp up to dive back into the season and there's times where — early Janury — I tried to ramp it up again, get set back,” Nunn explained. “And then maybe beginning of March, tried to ramp it up again to get ready to play and then another setback. So, that was just telling me that it's not healed yet and I'm not ready to play. So, I just had to accept that and just take a step back and truly sit back and let that thing heal.”
It was a bone bruise on his right knee that officially ended all hope for Nunn to return this season for the Lakers. The former University of Illinois standout shed some light on the extent of the injury as well as what the origin was for the same:
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“I initially felt it after I twisted my ankle,” he said. “Just going back and thinking — I've had plenty of time to think of what actually caused the bone bruise — just over time, the amount of work I've put in, the recovery didn't match. All that impact and stress, overtraining and not getting enough recovery. You know what I'm saying, doing the ice after every workout, over years and years, that adds up and that impact on your legs and knees, it shows. Wear and tear is pretty much what (the cause) is.”
Earlier in the season, Nunn sent out a tweet as he plead to Lakers fans to be patient with him. The team was on a downward spiral and supporters were beginning to get exasperated with Nunn's extended absence.
Lake Show I promise I want to be out there helping my team. Stay patient with me. This process has been just as frustrating for me. I’ll return as soon as I’m healthy! It’ll be worth the wait 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
— Kendrick Nunn (@nunnbetter_) January 21, 2022
On Monday, Nunn talked about that tweet as he explained his motivation behind that strong message for the fans. According to Nunn, as much as he wanted to make his debut for his new team, he also knew that he just had to take care of his body:
“I got a lot of feedback throughout the year, whether that's fans or peers, asking when I'm going to be back, just trying to rush that process,” he said. “And that's the one thing you can't and shouldn't do. I can't rush my body to heal faster than it naturally does so I just had to accept that and be as patient with it and let it heal. I took longer than I expected (to heal) so I just had to be patient with it and let it heal. And I wanted to send out (a tweet to) the fans and everybody let them know I'm doing everything I can and I'm waiting to get back as soon as I can.”
Unfortunately, Nunn was never able to return this season. The campaign is now over and he's officially missed an entire year for the Lakers. Let's just hope things get better next term.
