Lakers: Nwaba, Brewer Fitting In With Their New Team
Newcomers Corey Brewer and David Nwaba are providing the defensive intensity head coach Luke Walton has been asking for all season.
While they have only spent less than a month in Los Angeles, Corey Brewer and David Nwaba are exactly what the Los Angeles Lakers have needed all season on the defensive end.
In the Lakers’ most recent victory against the Minnesota Timberwolves, they were part of the lineup which prompted Lakers’ comeback to force the overtime, allowing just 21 points in fourth quarter. Brewer made the big plays in crunch time, but Nwaba, in his 26 minutes of action, had a team-high Box Plus-Minus of +19, per NBA.com.
They might not be the star-caliber players Magic Johnson is looking for to revamp Lakers’ fortunes, but they deserve to be retained as they represent the defensive culture coach Luke Walton is trying to build in Los Angeles. Not only have they been productive, but they’re also cheap.
Nwaba was recently signed to a non-guaranteed two-year deal, while Brewer is under contract for the next season at $7.58 million.
It’s highly unlikely Nwaba will become a high-profile player who can demand big time money over the next year, so the Lakers should be able to re-sign him for cheap. The same could be said of Brewer, who is not poised to gain much attraction–barring a surprising comeback season– once his contract expires.
More from Lake Show Life
- Lakers’ current projected closing lineup is sickening
- Lakers’ best-case starting 5 in 2022-23 without Kyrie Irving
- Should the Lakers make any of these ‘brutal’ proposed Westbrook trades?
- Mike James takes shots at Steph Curry in favor of Lakers’ LeBron James
- Ryen Russillo sums up Lakers’ Russell Westbrook problem perfectly
Their defensive contribution would be good enough to earn them the No. 12 and No. 13 spot on a contending team, providing the type of defensive intensity some of the main rotation guys currently struggle to provide.
To be part of the rotation, however, they also need to impact the game offensively. This means working on their three-point shot, something they are both not historically very good at. In the last seven seasons, Brewer has never shot above 30 percent from three. Unfortunately, Nwaba is no better. In his lone season with the Los Angeles D-Fenders, Nwaba shot an unimpressive 23.5 percent from deep.
They have an entire summer to work on the gaps in their long range game and prove they can belong to the system, and though they are not likely to receive plenty of minutes in “real” games, we have already seen some unexpected resurrection under Walton’s direction.
Next: Is Blake Griffin switching sides?
What do you think? Do Corey Brewer and David Nwaba deserve to remain in Lakers uniform next season and beyond? Can they become useful rotation players? Let us know in the comments below.