The Los Angeles Lakers' lone deadline move was acquiring Luke Kennard from the Hawks in exchange for Gabe Vincent and a 2032 second-round pick. You can say that it worked out even better than they expected, to the point where he could still be around (subscription required) after this season, as Jake Fischer of The Stein Line reported on Thursday.
Another tricky variable that has emerged: It is increasingly anticipated leaguewide that the Lakers will want to retain the recently acquired Luke Kennard after his strong first-round series against Houston.
Kennard got off to a great start for the Lakers in their first two games against the Rockets, dropping 27 points on 9-of-13 shooting (including a perfect 5-of-5 from three) in Game 1 and 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting in Game 2. In Game 3, he shot 4-of-12, 1-of-6 from three, for 14 points, while adding six assists and six rebounds.
Los Angeles needed everything it could get from Kennard, as it was without Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves for the first four games of the series.
Lakers reportedly want to re-sign Luke Kennard this summer
A couple of underwhelming playoff outings shouldn't be enough to sway LA from retaining Kennard, as they had a chance to sweep the Rockets in Game 4 but lost by double digits, 115-96. The guard had only seven points (3-of-8), three rebounds, and two assists in 32 minutes.
In Game 5, he scored just one point (0-of-4) in 31 minutes, but had three rebounds, two assists, two steals, and one block in 32 minutes. JJ Redick started Reaves, who came off the bench in the first half, for Kennard in the second half.
He can up his value with a bounce-back performance in Game 6, helping the Lakers move past the Rockets in the process. It helps, of course, that Reaves is back, but LA is still left trying to fill the void left by Dončić. It's why Kennard's scoring and playmaking were so vital in the first few games of the series.
The 29-year-old has fit in nicely in Los Angeles and has certainly been an upgrade over Vincent, who averaged just 4.8 points per game in the 29 contests he played for the Lakers before the trade. He can be a solid role player in purple and gold, but they'll need him to be a consistent factor, especially in the playoffs. He's struggled specifically in that category.
LA's top offseason priority will be re-signing Reaves, and it seems like keeping Kennard is somewhere up there, too. Knowing that has to be a bit of a relief for him, but it's not guaranteed. Let's see if he can make it even more of a reality, upping his value in the process.
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