Los Angeles Lakers: Ranking the free-agent signings by potential workload

By Jason Reed | Aug 10, 2021

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(Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers /

5. Kendrick Nunn

Ever so slightly ahead of Wayne Ellington is going to be Kendrick Nunn. The playing time is going to be really close between these two players and I would project Nunn to get somewhere between 19.5-20.5 minutes per game next season.

The same problems that exist with Ellington also exist with Nunn. While Nunn can score the basketball, he is not a good defensive player and that is also going to keep him off the floor in key moments for the Lakers.

We saw it with the Miami Heat. Despite being a great scoring presence for the Heat, Miami phased him out when things really started to matter. That could be similar to what happens to him in LA.

The reason why I favor Nunn slightly more than Ellington is the fact that he can do more offensively than just shoot the three. Whereas Ellington is an off-ball scorer, Nunn is someone who can operate in the half-court and create shots for himself as well as others.

Talen Horton-Tucker is most likely going to be the secondary playmaker at the point guard position but Nunn does have the ability to work with the ball in his hand more than Ellington can.

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