The 2022-23 season has officially come to a close and the Los Angeles Lakers find themselves in control of their destiny as they finished as the No. 7 seed with a 43-39 record.
It’s a great turnaround story for the Lakers, who started the year 2-10 and looked like they were headed for another disappointing season. Instead, they control their postseason destiny as they get to play the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday.
Ahead of their potential playoff run, Los Angeles announced they waived Davon Reed and signed Shaquille Harrison and Tristan Thompson. Shortly after the signings were made official, Darvin Ham discussed what Harrison and Thompson bring to the table.
“Just to shore up our back court and to shore up our front line,” Ham said. “Shaq Harrison is a young player, well not a young player but he’s fairly young and in his prime. A guy that can score, defend, playmake and guard multiple positions. To have a guy like that who I think has just shy of 200 NBA games under his belt so he’s played real NBA minutes and we just saw an opportunity that if anything should happen to our guys health-wise, we’ll have someone that we can throw in the mix that is familiar and has been in our program and understands how we want to play and the terminology and whatnot…
“And then with Tristan, again, the same type of scenario to just have a backup in case of an injury. what he brings, his spirit, his positivity as well as the way he’s played for years and years, championship level basketball. Championship pedigree, great guy to be around, I’ve heard nothing but great things about him and having coached against him for a bunch of years, he and I have always had a great rapport throughout his career. Big fan of his, watched him back while he was at Texas. But just another great guy to have and a serviceable player if we need to go in that direction.”
With Dennis Schroder dealing with some nagging injuries, Harrison is a decent insurance signing in the event the veteran guard is unable to go. Meanwhile, the backup center minutes have left much to be desired so there’s a shot Thompson can come in and provide a boost should he ever get called upon.
While neither player likely sees meaningful playoff minutes, it’s good process for the Lakers to fill areas of need.
Lakers to host Timberwolves in Play-In Tournament game
With the Lakers beating the Jazz and the L.A. Clippers beating the Phoenix Suns, all eyes were on the New Orleans Pelicans and Timberwolves as the winner determined the No. 8 seed. Minnesota ultimately won despite being without Rudy Gobert and Jaden McDaniels in the second half, meaning Los Angeles might have gotten their preferred matchup come Tuesday.
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