Lake Show Life
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The biggest defensive liabilities on the Los Angeles Lakers roster

By Jason Reed

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 20: Kent Bazemore #26 of the Golden State Warriors drives to the basket against Malik Monk #1 of the Charlotte Hornets during the first quarter of their game at Spectrum Center on February 20, 2021 in Charlotte, North Carolina. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 20: Kent Bazemore #26 of the Golden State Warriors drives to the basket against Malik Monk #1 of the Charlotte Hornets during the first quarter of their game at Spectrum Center on February 20, 2021 in Charlotte, North Carolina. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers
(Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers /

Malik Monk

Recurring Lake Show Life readers know that Malik Monk was perhaps my favorite signing from the entire offseason. Monk is still very young in this league and has boatloads of offensive potential that led to him getting drafted in the lottery in 2017.

Monk had a slow start to his career on a bad Hornets team in his young 20s. That has happened to so many players and you cannot outright give up on them that soon. He finally started to piece it all together last season and looked like the guy that Charlotte drafted and then he got hurt.

Getting him on the minimum is exceptional and there is a pretty good chance that Monk is the best scorer off the bench for the Lakers. He scored 11 points in 20 minutes per game last season. If he plays 25 minutes off the bench 15 points is definitely in question.

The problem is, though, that he could get cut out of playing any sort of meaningful playoff minutes because of his defense. While he might not outright get removed from the rotation, it is hard to justify playing Monk in key moments when the game slows down as he is too much of a defensive liability.

Monk has a career DBPM of -1.8 and posted a DBPM of -2.3 last season. To put that into perspective, Monk had the second-worst DBPM in the entire league, only better than Marvin Bagley.

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His scoring is very exciting. His defense is a problem.

All statistics courtesy of Basketball-Reference.

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