Los Angeles Lakers G-League veterans prove experience matters in win against young Kings

With Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, Brandon Ingram, and Kyle Kuzma out with injuries, the Lakers bench full of G-League veterans got a chance to win a game together and that they did.

All you hear from fans all the time is how washed up, and unskilled players in the G-League are, how they aren’t good enough to swing with the big boys in the NBA. It is disheartening for them and the media that cover them as it is so hard to know what NBA scouts are looking for in a prospect these days.

David Nwaba, Alex Caruso, Vander Blue, Travis Wear, and Gabe York, all G-Leaguers, beat some prominent rookies and second-year players on the Sacramento Kings roster including De’Aaron Fox, Justin Jackson, Buddy Held, and Skal Labissiere.

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At one point, after York hit two three-pointers plus his two free-throws, the announcers were giving kudos to the Lakers front office for the pickup. They were talking about York’s record-breaking G-League game where he hit ten three-pointers in one game, and that the Lakers were smart to notice. Well duh, four of the Lakers coaches are former Arizona Wildcats, so is Gabe York.

One game does not make an NBA career, but it’s nice to be known for something right? Blue, Nwaba, Ivica Zubac and Wear have played together a ton on the South Bay Lakers (D-Fenders at the time).

These players already have a chemistry and experience playing together so it’s no wonder that if you sprinkle in Alex Caruso and rookie Thomas Bryant, you have a pretty darn good team.

The book is still out on whether NBA Summer League should be evaluated at all, but it depends on who you talk to. Summer League is your first look at how the rookies are going to behave, how serious they are about winning if the youngsters are attempting to get a chemistry going and more.

The media and fans who spend the money to attend, and it’s not cheap if you add in food, airfare, Uber and hotel charges, feel it’s pretty important. Everyone at home? Not so much. It was important only if Lonzo Ball led the Lakers to an undefeated Summer League title I guess?

It seemed that as soon as it didn’t look good for the team to win it all and the injuries set in, the collective Twitterverse felt the Summer League wasn’t that important after all. It didn’t fit their narrative, but the G-League veterans were trending on Twitter three hours after the game.

At one point in the last minute of the game, Vander and Buddy were exchanging three’s; couldn’t be more excited than watching a huge crowd show Blue love, and he was feeling it again got the crowd up on their feet.

Alex Caruso was chosen for the post-game interview. A couple of highlights included a reference to showing fellow Houston point guard Fox respect from the “old guy”. Then, he dropped a quote that should live in infamy, “People probably don’t get the white guy to white guy alley oop all the time,” referring to his backward long lob to fellow Laker Travis Wear for a slam dunk. At the very least, here is a suggestion for an NBA rule change that made us laugh:

Next: Lakers 2017 Summer League Roster Breakdown

All-in-all, and even though the G-League dominated Lakers Summer League team blew a 28-point lead, they pulled out a win without three of their draft picks. The names Alex Caruso and Vander Blue are hopefully on the lips of all the scouts and GM’s in the building. It’s time to lift some of these players, who played with a ton of heart, to their rightful place in the NBA.