Los Angeles Lakers Report Card: First Quarter Player Grades

C Brook Lopez

I didn’t expect my favorite geek in the NBA to have a less-than-appeasing statistical season.

I love Brook Lopez, and I even have him on my fantasy team, deciding to stash him over Jusuf Nurkic and Clint Capela, who both are outscoring Lopez this season. Needless to say, his shooting needs a little bit of patchwork.

Lopez shot only 31 3-pointers before lighting it up in his last season in Brooklyn, no thanks to Nets Head Coach Kenny Atkinson’s advice to shoot it more outside. Lopez brought over his new style of play over to Los Angeles.

However, his scoring, shooting percentages, rebounding, and efficiency slightly plummeted in his trade to the Lakers. Lopez is in a bit of a shooting slump, which needs to turn around quickly.

This may all turn out to be a simple gesture that Walton believes that Randle is more fit as the late-game five than Lopez. Walton cut his minutes by an average of six over from Brooklyn.

Still, Lopez is setting an example to his younger teammates. It is clear that Kuzma has taken some of Lopez’s moves and tricks into his game. Nonetheless, Lopez has to play better offense if he wants to be kept on a Lakers team trying to find their identity in the league.