There weren’t many bright spots from the Los Angeles Lakers’ 97-87 loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night. It was among their better defensive efforts of the year, but that was clouded by 22 turnovers and ineffective offensive performances from the entire team. One of the lone individual silver linings was Christian Koloko.
Head coach JJ Redick gave Koloko 12 minutes of action on Friday night, the 12 minutes that Anthony Davis was off the court. In that time, Koloko did not score at all — and didn’t even have one field goal attempt — but he still showed exactly why the Lakers took a chance on him.
Koloko finished with six rebounds, one steal and two blocks and was a team-high plus-12 in the 10-point loss. And after the game, Redick praised Koloko for his performance, via Dan Woike of The L.A. Times:
JJ says this was the best Koloko has played – type of game he can build one. Missed one coverage call. "Outside of that, he was awesome tonight."
— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) December 14, 2024
One question that arose from the loss, though, is why Koloko only played the 12 minutes that Davis was off the floor, as opposed to a two-big look that has been oft discussed for the Lakers recently. Redick explained that he doesn’t like the fit of those two-big lineups with Davis and either Koloko or Jaxson Hayes:
He said it’s a bad fit and hasn’t generally liked the two bigs looks the Lakers have had this season. Said he likes LeBron or Rui as the 4 next to their back-up centers. https://t.co/UmL4N11g1X
— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) December 14, 2024
The Lakers have reportedly been in the market for a big to play next to Davis all season long. However, Redick clearly feels that answer isn’t Koloko or Hayes. Perhaps a lack of offensive spacing is an issue or maybe there’s something defensively that Redick doesn’t like.
But either way, if Koloko can continue to put together performances like Friday, at the very least he can cover up some issues in the non-Davis minutes.
South Bay staff encouraging Christian Koloko to shoot threes
The Lakers have had to rely more heavily on two-way center Christian Koloko than anyone had anticipated when the 2024-25 season began. L.A. signed Koloko to a two-way deal hoping that he could be a development project for the South Bay Lakers after missing the entirety of last season due to blood clot issues.
But injuries to Christian Wood and Jaxson Hayes at the same time as Koloko’s clearance to return to basketball from the NBA made him the Lakers’ only backup center behind Davis.
Koloko has also spent some time with South Bay though and in those two games, he began experimenting with shooting the 3-pointer. Specifically, he took five 3-pointers total and spoke about why the South Bay coaches are encouraging that.
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