The Los Angeles Lakers improved the team this week by trading Talen Horton-Tucker and Stanley Johnson for point guard Patrick Beverley. Not only did the Lakers improve the team for this season but the front office also opened up some salary-cap space by getting THT’s two-year deal off the books.
Lakers fans are hoping that Beverley can not only have a positive impact on the team this upcoming season but also pave the way for the front office to make more moves. There is now a Russell Westbrook trade that seems inevitable as most fans are hoping it happens sooner rather than later.
Assuming Westbrook is not on the team, we conjured up some scorching bold predictions that we 100% believe will happen for Patrick Beverley on the Lakers.
1. Patrick Beverley shoots above his career average from three on the Lakers
As much as we want to be super bold and claim that Patrick Beverley will set a new personal best in three-point percentage, that is probably pushing it a bit too far. That would require Beverley shooting over 40% from three and that probably won’t end up happening.
However, he should certainly shoot better than his career average of 37.8% this upcoming season. Sure, Beverley is coming off of a really down year in which he shot 34.3% from three but the fit in Minnesota was not great for three-point shooting.
In Los Angeles, Beverley has someone in LeBron James that is going to do most of the facilitating and open up the floor for Beverley to hit shots. Not only that, but if the Lakers have Myles Turner and Buddy Hield then the floor spacing as a whole is going to be really good.
Defenders are going to be sucked in on LeBron and Davis near the rim, opening up the rest of the floor for Beverley and the other shooters. Beverley is not going to take a high number of threes with all of the shooters on the team but he should make them at a great clip.
Last season he shot 34.3% on 4.2 attempts per game. He should take around the same number of threes and finish shooting between 38.5 and 39.5%.