LOS ANGELES – It’s been two weeks now that the Los Angeles Lakers have had Luke Kennard following the NBA trade deadline, but Thursday was his first practice with the team. Following his acquisition, the Lakers’ schedule didn’t allow for any practice time, and then the All-Star break popped up. But in the games he has played for the team thus far, consider Luka Doncic a fan.
Luka Doncic has yet to play alongside Luke Kennard as he’s been sidelined with a hamstring injury sustained during the Lakers’ win against the Philadelphia 76ers on Feb. 5, the game right before Kennard’s debut. But getting to see him on the court in the subsequent games, and having gone through a practice session now, Doncic loves the confidence that Kennard has whenever he lets a shot fly from downtown.
“He was great in practice today. He’s been great just finding himself,” Doncic said following Lakers’ practice on Thursday. “He’s only played four games with us so obviously he’s not gonna fit in right, right away, obviously he needs time. But in practice, whenever he shoots a three, he always thinks it’s gonna go in. It’s great to see that.”
In Kennard’s Lakers debut, a win against the Golden State Warriors back on Feb. 7, he finished with 10 points, two rebounds, two assists and one steal in 26 minutes. He shot 4-of-7 overall, 2-of-4 from the 3-points line and most importantly, he closed out the game as part of the crunch time lineup late in the fourth quarter.
Kennard has appeared in four games so far for the Lakers, including one start, at just about 24 minutes per game. He’s been averaging 10.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists with splits of 62.5 percent shooting from the field and 45.5 percent shooting from the 3-point line. When averaged together with his 3-point percentage from earlier in the season with the Atlanta Hawks, Kennard is leading the league at 49.4 percent.
For Lakers head coach JJ Redick, just being able to be with the team is good in terms of working out the kinks on the court, especially when the entire group is able to practice.
“I just think that every day you’re with the group, it’s more comfortable,” Redick said. “He did his PechaKucha this morning, did a nice job. He had a terrific practice today. It was good to have Luka and AR with us as well.”
Redick mentioned earlier in the season that he’s used the Japanese storytelling presentation format of PechaKucha to help with team-bonding activities, and Kennard finally got his opportunity.
With the All-Star break now in rearview, the Lakers will resume the season at home against the LA Clippers on Friday.
