The Los Angeles Lakers are looking to fill their 14th roster spot by the beginning of training camp. They may have found their man in James Ennis.
Ennis reportedly worked out for the Lakers earlier this week and it appears that the workout went well. After digging through some of his past liked tweets, Ennis has shown a clear interest in joining the Lakers through his Twitter account.
James Ennis would bring a lot to the Los Angeles Lakers, even in a limited role.
His role on the Lakers unless there are major changes throughout the season will consist of being a deep bench player that is put in when the Lakers are having a particularly rough shooting night.
Ennis’ three-point shooting is arguably his strongest quality and his biggest addition to this roster. In today’s NBA, there is never such a thing as too many good shooters on a team.
With the Lakers big three coming into the year consisting of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook, there is going to need to be a strong contribution in the form of outside shooting from the supporting cast.
Ennis is a career 36.0% three-point shooter, however, this is an area he has greatly improved on last season.
He went from having 32.5% from three in the 2019-2020 season with the Philadelphia 76ers and Orlando Magic to 43.3% accuracy from deep in the 2020-2020 season with the Magic.
He did this while shooting .1 more threes per game than he did in the previous season.
If Ennis is able to continue this elite shooting from deep if he becomes a part of the Lakers, it will be an incredible asset to add to the team.
Opposing defenses will be forced to choose between helping over on a Russell Westbrook or LeBron James drive and leaving Ennis open at the three-point line. The same holds true when Anthony Davis is in the post.
This is something that could be crucial once the intensity of games and the level of defense played increases in the playoffs.
Bringing in Ennis along with the other elite shooters that joined the Lakers in free agency, any questions about floor spacing should be put to rest.
Adding Ennis to the team, even if he does not play a huge role on the team, could really come in handy when the Lakers need it.