Los Angeles Lakers: 3 players who should be axed from the playoff rotation

1. Wesley Matthews

Wesley Matthews was signed to a one-year deal in the offseason to essentially be the replacement for Danny Green in the rotation. Green was traded alongside the 28th pick in the draft for Dennis Schroder and the Lakers needed to add depth at the wing and did so with Matthews.

Matthews has had his moments with the Lakers and he has had ample chances to prove himself but it just has not gone entirely as planned. Matthews has posted far too many bad games wearing the purple and gold and his numbers overall are not that appealing.

Matthews, who was brought in to be a three and D player, is shooting just 33.3% from beyond the arc and 34.9% from the field. That is awful and while his defense can be valuable to the Lakers, the team can also make up his defense elsewhere.

LeBron James returning is going to really shrink the minutes and the Lakers have a better option to give the 15 minutes or so that they would have given Matthews in Ben McLemore. McLemore has not been great defensively but he has been more consistent from beyond the arc and has some big shooting games already under his belt.

McLemore is shooting 37.7% from beyond the arc and is averaging four more points per game than Matthews.

If McLemore suddenly gets cold and Matthews hits some shots then the Lakers will likely just play the hot hand. However, as it stands right now, Matthews should be on the outside looking in.