Los Angeles Lakers: Ivica Zubac was motivated by poor Summer League

In the loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Lakers center Ivica Zubac looked much better than he did in the Summer League.

In what was a disappointing season for the Los Angeles Lakers, one bright spot was center Ivica Zubac.

In his rookie season, Zubac was able to average 7.5 points and 4.2 rebounds in 16 minutes per game. The strong showing in his rookie season caused a lot of excitement among Lakers fans for what type of player Zubac could become.

Unfortunately for Zubac, he had a setback this summer. In the Las Vegas Summer League, Zubac was expected to dominate as a true center and a second-year player with a good amount of NBA experience. However, Zubac looked lost at times and really struggled throughout the tournament.

However, these struggles might push Zubac to become even better. Since the disappointing Summer League showing, Zubac has been working extremely hard to get in the best shape of his life heading into the season. Recently, Lakers head coach Luke Walton talked about how Zubac’s poor play in the Summer League has motivated him. Here’s what Walton had to say about Zubac on the Lakers’ Facebook page via Daniel Starkand of LakersNation.com.

"“He was disappointed in it. Obviously, we were disappointed in it,” Walton said after Sunday’s practice. “We had a sitdown talk with him and he kind of, it happens, he kind of assumed because he had success at the end of last season in the NBA that summer league would be easy for him. When you go in with that mindset and you’re playing a bunch of young guys that are hungry trying to make jobs, trying to get jobs, it’s gonna be a tough place to success at. But since then I really think he’s used that to motivate him to get to where he’s at right now, including being eight percent body fat.”"

In the Lakers’ first preseason game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Zubac certainly did not look like the player that we saw in Las Vegas. In the loss, Zubac totaled nine points, five rebounds, two assists and two blocks in 19 minutes of action off the bench.

Zubac looked much better against the Timberwolves with his only issue being some foul trouble. Since the Lakers added Andrew Bogut just prior to the start of training camp, Zubac has to know that the pressure is one. With Brook Lopez and Bogut both playing center, Zubac has to impress to prove that he will be worthy of a spot and minutes.

Next: Three things we learned from the first preseason game

The Lakers will be playing the Denver Nuggets for the next two games in the preseason. Both Lopez and Bogut have been ruled out for the game already, as it will once again be a great opportunity for Zubac to get some extended minutes at center.