Los Angeles Lakers: Wesley Matthews… where are you?

When the Los Angeles Lakers signed veteran guard Wes Matthews, there were many happy people that felt good about having the journeyman on the team. After all, he was a known player for his defensive skills, three-point shooting, and a pretty good scorer.

Then there were those that were wondering, ” Wes Matthews who?” To be fair and honest, I have to now agree with the second group because it seems to me that Matthews has been invisible thus far.

He is averaging career lows in points per game at 4.2. His field goal percentage is at 34%. From three-point, he is shooting 33.6% which is the second-lowest of his career. So, all the numbers are pointed negatively and things just don’t seem to be going well for him in Los Angeles.

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To top it all off, he has failed to score a single point in 10 of the games he played in this season.

The Los Angeles Lakers must be asking ‘where is Wesley Matthews?’

To be quite honest, Matthews has failed to be effective on defense. There are times when he looks either a bit slow or just plain out of place. Either way, Matthews has not been doing what the Lakers had brought him in to do.

The question is, what can be done with him at this point? Can the Lakers actually trade him away and get value for him? I doubt they can do it unless it is done in a package deal with another player.

Matthews is averaging 20 minutes a game. What other choice do the Lakers have at this point now with both Anthony Davis and LeBron James out with injuries, but to play whom they have on their roster and hopefully get some positive play from them?  Eventually, this is going to have to change especially if LeBron’s recovery time is lengthy.

Unless Matthews can turn things around, I see no reason why the Lakers wouldn’t part ways with him. The question now is just how do they intend to do that at this point in the season? One thing is for sure, he’s not contributing.