When talking about the game of the highest-projected guard in the upcoming NBA Draft, Jaden Ivey, it is hard not to talk about the dynamic athlete he is. Standing at 6-foot-4-inches, Ivey has proven to use his gifted size properly by being a great strong finisher around the rim so far in college.
The 17.3 points-per-game guard out of Purdue has not only put his leadership, confidence and March Madness experience on notice to team scouts, but also his overall game that can easily translate to the heavy half-court offensive style of the NBA.
In an interview with Bleacher Report, Ivey pinpoints how his style of play is and has been modeled after two star NBA point guards in Russell Westbrook of the Los Angeles Lakers and Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies:
Jaden Ivey on who he models his game after: “Ja Morant and Russell Westbrook. Just the athleticism and speed that they play with, I kind of possess some of those skills on the court.” pic.twitter.com/pSanr3fQEj
— B/R Hoops (@brhoops) June 19, 2022
It is almost picture-perfect for Ivey to pattern his game after two of the most athletic and fastest point guards in the league in Westbrook and Morant. The play style Ivey is following under Westbrook and Morant has proven to be a successful style of play in the league today and will be for years to come as more physically gifted guards aim for the NBA Draft.
Regardless of which team Ivey lands with during Thursday’s NBA Draft, it will be getting a player that brings an electric style of basketball on both ends every given night. With recent mock drafts projecting him to go No.4 overall to the Sacramento Kings, the potential backcourt duo of De’Aaron Fox and Jaden Ivey will feature high intensity on both ends off the floor as athletic finishers and laterally quick guards who can stop the ball.
Lakers might look to bring in Bradley Beal
Every offseason, there are star players who are rumored to get traded or walk away to another team in free agency. Somehow it always connects to the Lakers, no matter what the team’s offseason plan might be.
Heading into this year’s free agency period, the Lakers are rumored to potentially being interested in adding Washington Wizards star Bradley Beal to the roster.
While this might be a match made in heaven for the Lakers, it will be a tall task to pull off considering the team’s lack of trade assets and current salary cap table. If Beal were to have a mutual interest in joining the Purple and Gold, it will be fun to see how general manager Rob Pelinka flips the current projection of the team.
The offseason priorities for the Lakers might realistically not be acquiring a star player like Beal, but maximizing the team’s assets via trade to create more salary-cap space and acquire fresh players to make the immediate change could be the route they go.
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