The Los Angeles Lakers have finished the 2017-18 regular season. We hand out some rewards to players on the team.
The 2017-18 season is over, as the Los Lakers missed the playoffs again with a 35-47 record. There were definitely some positives on the season, as the Lakers improved by nine wins compared to last season and came 12th in the league in Defensive Rating.
The Lakers also had an amazing 2017 draft class with Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart, and Thomas Bryant. With them, Brandon Ingram, possibly Julius Randle, and whatever free agents the Lakers sign in the off season, the Lakers’ future looks bright.
Although that future looks bright, we are still left on the outside of the playoff picture yet again. Since they fell short of the playoffs, let’s take some time to look at who on the Lakers should get the traditional NBA year-end awards for their contributions to the team.
The first award we will take a look at is the MVP award.
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MVP: Julius Randle
2nd: Brandon Ingram 3rd: Kyle Kuzma
For the 2017-18 season, you have to give the team MVP to Julius Randle. He was the only player on the team to play in all 82 games and he was tied in leading the team in scoring at 16.1 PPG (tied with Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma). He also had the best Offensive Rating (of players who played at least 50 games) and led the team in Win Shares and PER.
Basically, when Randle was on the court, it was obvious who the best player for the Lakers was at that time. It’ll be interesting to see if the Lakers re-sign Randle in the offseason, since he is due to become a restricted free agent.
Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma get 2nd and 3rd respectively for their scoring along with Ingram’s time as point guard when Lonzo Ball was injured.