Saturday afternoon featured a shorthanded Los Angeles Lakers squad against a streaking Indiana Pacers team. That meant that players who do not typically see the floor would get an opportunity, like recently signed two-way guard Jordan Goodwin.
Goodwin has seen his fair share of NBA action as he has suited up in a total of 121 games, notably known for his time with the Washington Wizards where he averaged 6.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists through two seasons.
That being said, head coach JJ Redick relied on Goodwin down the stretch to pick up a 124-117 win against Indiana. The 26-year-old expressed how thankful he was for this opportunity to play for L.A. after grinding in the G League with the South Bay Lakers in the first half of the season.
“[I’m] grateful. [I’m] very grateful,” Goodwin said. “I just want to thank God for getting me back healthy. I want to thank South Bay for giving me a break to get me back on the NBA stage and things like that. Credit to the Lakers for making the call-up. Thanks to JJ [Redick] for giving me the opportunity to go out there and play. It felt good to be back out [there].”
This opportunity materialized fast with LeBron James and Luka Doncic being ruled out due to injuries. Goodwin revealed the sequence of events leading up to Saturday’s game that wound up with him on the floor to close out a win at Crypto.com Arena.
“I got the word and then two seconds later, I was doing shootaround with South Bay,” he said. “Then in the next 30 minutes, I’m in shootaround with the Lakers. Then, the next morning the text said you’re going to play today.”
Thankfully, the Illnois native was familiar with the Lakers system seeing how spent a majority of this year with South Bay. He credited that experience for helping him perform despite any practice time.
“I think the plays and everything were definitely the same,” Goodwin said. “JJ probably did switch up some things but it was really easy to catch onto. I think that’s definitely the goal. You can definitely see the same calls, same play calls, so I definitely think it’s going hand in hand.”
To put up 10 points and four rebounds in 25 minutes on that short of notice is quite impressive. Perhaps this is a building block for Goodwin to become a break glass in case of emergency type player for L.A.’s guard rotation down the stretch of the regular season as he showed he belongs at the NBA level.
Jordan Goodwin signed Exhibit 10 contract with L.A. in September
After an impressive showing against the Pacers, this was a long time coming for Jordan Goodwin after being out of NBA action for a bit. It is worth noting Goodwin joined L.A. by signing an Exhibit 10 contract back in September and spent the start of the season in the G League with South Bay before landing this two-way deal.
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