Jeremy Lamb’s potential fit on the Los Angeles Lakers:
While Jeremy Lamb is not someone who is going to revolutionize the Lakers and be the x-factor to the team winning the NBA Championship, he is someone who can actually have a pretty big impact on the team by improving a serious area of weakness.
The purple and gold went from one of the best defensive teams in the league to one of the worst defensive teams in the league this season. While Anthony Davis is elite defensively, Talen Horton-Tucker is the team’s only above-average perimeter defender. Lamb would be the team’s second above-average perimeter defender.
Lamb is far from being an elite defender and is not going to play to the defensive level of Alex Caruso. However, he absolutely can produce on defense on the same level as Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who know we realize was a huge part of the team defense.
In fact, Lamb’s best comparison in LA would be KCP. The two players are very similar and Lamb would essentially have the same role on the Lakers that KCP had before being traded to the Washington Wizards.
Since the start of the 2020-21 season, Lamb has shot 40.3% from three on 3.4 attempts per game, averaging 9.1 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. His combined Box Plus/Minus since the start of last season is 1.7 and he averages .137 win shares per 48 minutes.
Compare that to KCP, who was very similar in LA. In his last two seasons in the purple and gold, Caldwell-Pope shot 39.8% from three on 3.9 attempts per game, averaging 9.5 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. His combined BPM was actually worse at -0.8 while he averaged .104 win shares per 48 minutes.
The Lakers would essentially be getting someone who is on par, if not slightly better, than KCP was the previous two seasons in LA. For the price of some throwaway contracts and a future second-round pick or two, Lamb would more than be worth it.