The Los Angeles Lakers need all the help they can after suffering a painfully slow start that has put them behind the curve this season. A win against the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday pushed the team to 3-10 and with an easier schedule coming up, the team has to string wins together.
Luckily for Lakers fans, there are some reinforcements that should be on their way here soon that will help the team capitalize on the easier schedule coming up. It may not be external reinforcements but Los Angeles is getting two important players back.
While nothing has yet been made official, Lonnie Walker IV spilled the beans and made it seem very likely that the Lakers would be getting Dennis Schroder and Thomas Bryant back on Friday against the Detroit Pistons. The Lakers do not have any games scheduled between Sunday and Friday.
Lonnie Walker IV indicated that Dennis Schroder and Thomas Bryant will be back on Friday against Detroit.
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) November 14, 2022
Dennis Schroder and Thomas Bryant returning will be massive for the Lakers.
While they might not be star players and they are just two minimum role players at the end of the day, the impact that both Schroder and Bryant are going to have should be instantly felt on this Lakers team.
Initially, it looked like Schroder would be taking some of Russell Westbrook’s minutes once he got healthy but that no longer seems to be the case. Westbrook is playing good enough in his bench role and there are other struggling guards for Schroder to eat minutes from.
Most notable is the tandem of Kendrick Nunn and Patrick Beverley. Nunn and Pat Bev have both been pretty awful this season and Schroder’s return will eat into their minutes and (hopefully) give the team a much better outlook as a result.
Bryant is going to make Anthony Davis’s life easier, which is huge for the long-term success of the team. With Damian Jones not really having much of a role and Wenyen Gabriel not being a true center, AD has had to play a lot of the five this season and it looks like it is already taking a toll on his body.
Bryant returning will give the team an actual five that will not only give the Lakers much-needed size but will keep Davis from clanging and banging at the rim so much, which is important for his long-term health both this season and in the future.
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It may take a few games for them to fully get into the swing of things and reach their potential as role players on the Lakers but fans should be over the moon about Schroder and Bryant’s 2022 debuts.