LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Lakers return home against the Phoenix Suns following a road trip that saw them go 0-4 and drop to fifth place in the Western Conference standings. The good news for the Lakers though was Luka Doncic was cleared to make his return after sitting out the team’s loss to the Denver Nuggets to end the trip. LeBron James is still sidelined with a groin injury, Lakers head coach JJ Redick spoke about what Doncic’s role will entail in the immediacy.
“The marching orders for him don’t change if LeBron is out of the lineup. . .I think, the way basketball works, at least in my mind, is that people and players and skill-sets, they all have to compliment each other and work together,” JJ Redick said prior to the team’s game against the Suns. “Everybody has a role and everybody is valued. And if you do that role well, we have a chance to win.”
“Luka has to be Luka. . .same thing with our guys that are defensive-minded, or shooters, you just got to be you and you hope that there’s enough to fill in the gap when guys are out,” Redick continued. “That some of that equals a team that has a chance to win a game.”
Luka Doncic isn’t the only player who was set to return to the Lakers’ lineup on Sunday against the Suns. Jaxson Hayes, who missed the entire road trip with a knee injury, was also cleared to play. Hayes has been the team’s starting center since the trade deadline.
The Lakers also were set to welcome back both Gabe Vincent and Dorian Finney-Smith, both of whom missed the loss to the Nuggets.
Doncic has played in 13 games since the trade, and the Lakers have gone 8-5 in those games. He’s been averaging 26.1 points, 8.6 rebounds, 7.6 assists and 1.8 steals with splits of 41.2 percent shooting from the field, 34.4 percent shooting from the three-point line and 75.7 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
In his last game against the Milwaukee Bucks, he tied a season-high of 45 points. Although the Lakers went winless on their road trip, Doncic has gradually looked more comfortable in Redick’s system and getting acclimated to his new teammates.
The Lakers used an eight-game win streak to make a surge in the Western Conference standings all the way to the No. 2 seed. But with the recent losing streak, they’ve slipped to fifth, and one and half games behind the Memphis Grizzlies for fourth place. There are 17 games remaining in the regular season.
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