Los Angeles Lakers: 2 things J.R. Smith has to prove in the seeding games

J.R. Smith is joining the Los Angeles Lakers in the Orlando bubble.

The Los Angeles Lakers found a replacement for Avery Bradley. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Monday that J.R. Smith and the Lakers are in the final steps of a deal to be added to the roster for the NBA’s restart at Disney World. The deal will be sent to the league offices on Wednesday.

Smith was connected to the Lakers as soon as the news hit that Bradley would not be rejoining the team in Orlando, citing the importance of the health of his family over basketball. This was the right move for Bradley and more power to him.

Smith was viewed as an instant fit for several reasons. First, he is the prototype three and D player that teams look to put alongside LeBron James in the backcourt. His history in playing alongside LeBron in Cleveland as well as him being represented by Klutch Sports helped push that narrative as well.

Smith is not going to get a guaranteed role in the playoffs, though. There are a lot of different dynamics and rotational questions that Frank Vogel is going to have to answer in the playoffs. Luckily for Vogel, the team has eight games with relatively low stakes to get back into the swing of things and answer those questions.

In those eight games, Smith is going to have to prove two very specific things that are going to decide how big of a role he has on the Lakers, and no, three-point shooting is not one of them.

Here are those two things that Smith is going to have to prove in a relatively small sample size.