When the Los Angeles Lakers acquired Luke Kennard from the Atlanta Hawks earlier this month, there was a consensus from Hawks fans. They said that, yes, Kennard does in fact have one of the best 3-point percentages in NBA history — but he doesn't actually shoot that much. Bah, said Lakers fans, we just got an elite movement shooter!
Unfortunately, the warning from Hawks fans seems to be legit. Kennard has already proven to be, for some reason, hesitant to let it fly. Kennard has shot just 16 3-pointers in 135 minutes with the Lakers. He's shot more two-pointers than he has 3-pointers. I don't think he's doing this on purpose, but it does sometimes feel like he refuses to shoot semi-open 3-pointers just for funzies. But it's not funzies for Lakers fans. It's not funzies at all, Luke.
Six games in, Kennard's percentages are great; he's shooting nearly 44% from 3-point range. But now Lakers fans and pundits are seeing firsthand that a high percentage doesn't tell the whole story with Kennard.
Luke Kennard is not moving the needle for Lakers
Frankly, it was never fair to ask him to. Kennard has been a good player at multiple stops in his career — he was a very good sixth man with the Clippers a few years ago, finishing fifth in 6MOY voting. But it was silly to think he'd be the difference-maker for a Lakers team that plays like it knows it's a tier below the top teams in the league.
If Kennard isn't hitting 3-pointers at an elite clip and at least a normal volume, it gets tougher to justify playing him every night. Sure, he's still a nice option to have in a pinch, but he's never going to post the scoring barrages that Lakers fans thought he'd be able to produce when they traded for him. And when his shooting volume is low, and his defense is what it is (not good), he's more of a spot minutes guy than a regular rotation guy.
There's a reason Luke Kennard has bounced around the league the past few years, and it's his refusal to shoot as much as everyone asks him to shoot. I am confident that fans would be happy with a 39% 3-point shooting version of Kennard if he was shooting 8 3-pointers per game. But that might not be realistic. I don't know why it's not realistic, but alas.