The Los Angeles Lakers made a bunch of big moves this offseason. One move that isn’t being talked about much is the signing of sharpshooter Wayne Ellington. Ellington signed a one-year, $2.6 million deal.
The deal is a low-risk good reward move for the 33-year-old veteran. Ellington provides much-needed shooting alongside LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook.
With the Russell Westbrook trade and signings of guys like Trevor Ariza, Malik Monk, Kendrick Nunn and Carmelo Anthony, many are overlooking Ellington. Like Ariza, this is Ellington’s second stint with the Lakers. In 2014-15 he played with the Lakers averaging 10 points in 26 minutes.
Wayne Ellington is coming off a season in which he averaged 9.6 points on an impressive 44% from three-point range with the Pistons. Ellington made 2.5 threes in just 21 minutes per contest. Had he played starter minutes he would’ve likely averaged an incredible four threes a night. Ellington is also a career 84 percent free-throw shooter.
When Ellington was getting bigger minutes his production jumped. In the month of March, he averaged 25.5 minutes in eight games. In that stretch, he averaged 12.4 points on 46% from deep. In late January he also played terrific basketball. He had a seven-game stretch in which he averaged 18.9 points on 5.3 threes.
It was a good season for the veteran considering that he played on the second-worst team in the league and on a team with no true playmakers. Things will get easier for Ellington now that he’s on a contender. On the Lakers, his defensive deficiencies will be made up for as Frank Vogel-led teams tend to defend at the highest level.
The Los Angeles Lakers were in desperate need of shooting this offseason.
Landing a guy like Ellington alongside Carmelo Anthony and Malik Monk will help their trio of superstars. James and Westbrook will make it easier for these guys due to their terrific playmaking. Anthony Davis will draw plenty of double teams in the post, which should also open up things for their shooters.
The Los Angeles Lakers ranked 21st in the league in three-point percentage (35%) and 28th in free-throw shooting (74%).
Ellington doesn’t check other boxes the way some of the other acquisitions do. He is strictly a shooter who doesn’t provide much help in other areas. However, he knows his identity and is a smart player. An example of this is in his career 0.7 turnovers a game in 21 minutes.
Despite being in his 13th season, Ellington still has plenty of good basketball in the tank. Ellington won’t put up big numbers but he will provide the Lakers with terrific shooting and he will be counted on to make some key shots.