The Los Angeles Lakers preseason is officially in the books. After six games that didn’t count, the purple and gold will begin the journey to an NBA Championship on Tuesday against the Denver Nuggets.
While the outcomes of the preseason games did not matter, how each player faired on an individual level certainly did. Fans learned a lot about this Lakers team, how the rotation will shake out and how the team may compare to the other contenders in the Western Conference.
For the most part, the preseason was filled with positives. It is hard not to be excited about this Lakers team heading into the regular season. That being said, it was not all positive, as several players saw their stocks plummet during the games that do not count.
3 Lakers whose stock plummeted during the preseason:
1. Cam Reddish
The Lakers have become the team to sign with to recoup value on the free-agent market. Malik Monk established the trend two years ago with the Lakers and Cam Reddish is looking to repeat that model as another recent lottery pick who has not panned out thus far.
It is a long season ahead for Reddish to follow in Monk’s footsteps but it did not get out to a good start. Reddish continued many of his previous struggles in his first preseason game with the Lakers. It got worse as Reddish suffered an ankle injury and missed the next three preseason games.
Reddish returned against the Milwaukee Bucks and had some bright moments but there is still a lot of work to be done. Unfortunately for Reddish, it might be hard to get playing time this year to increase his value on the trade market.