Lakers: D-Fenders Looking to Hit Stride After Playoff Berth

While the Lakers are busy tanking, the D-Fenders are preparing for the D-League Playoffs

With a win against the Bakersfield Jam on March 15, the 26-20 Los Angeles D-Fenders clinched a playoff berth. The team couldn’t be happier.

However, the D-Fenders haven’t been performing up to their potential as of late. They were on a nine-game winning streak, but have since gone downhill losing their last five. On a high note, they have consistently scored over 100 points and averaged 110.8 points per game over the last eight games.

As they look to gear up for the D-League Playoffs by getting back to winning, the D-Fenders Roster resembles kids playing on a merry-go-round with players jumping on and off the ride.

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Justin Harper, who had been playing in the NBA for the Detroit Pistons, was just sent back to the D-Fenders. While his team is happy he’s back, they are bummed he couldn’t play out the rest of the season in the NBA.

The D-Fenders also acquired former Arizona State Sun Devils forward Jeff Ayres on March 4 from the Idaho Stampede, giving up a 2016 first round draft pick to make the deal. Twelve days later, the Los Angeles Clippers signed Ayres for the remainder of the season, so now he too is gone. The D-Fenders acquired Xavier Henry on February 27 and Jabari Brown on March 2.

We caught up with the Defenders after their disappointing loss to the Santa Cruz Warriors. Knowing no one wanted to talk about the loss that night, we turned our attention to the upcoming playoffs.

The team had just got back home from playing on the road against the Reno Bighorns night before and were down at least three players to minor injuries when taking on the Santa Cruz Warriors on Saturday (Josh Magette, Lazar Hayward and Jabari Brown). On top of it all, Brown is still grieving his father’s passing away from cancer in late February.

We spoke to head coach Casey Owens about any current Lakers who could join the D-Fenders for the playoffs, to forward Ryan Gomes about his hopes for the playoffs and his life away from the court, and to D-League 3-Point Champion Andre Ingram about his experience at the D-League All-Star weekend.

Here’s that interview with Lake Show Life contributor Shereen Rayan:

As a refresher, the NBA only allows a player with less than three years of service in the league to play in the D-League. Each team can only assign two NBA players at a time to its D-League affiliate. Possible assignment for the playoffs could be Ryan Kelly, Tarik Black or Anthony Brown, though Owens said Brown is unlikely as he deals with a foot injury.