Lakers’ Luka Doncic Sends Message on Luke Kennard

When the game was over, and the Los Angeles Lakers had somehow grinded out a 105-104 win over a tough Orlando Magic team on the road, to run their winning streak to nine games, Luka Doncic had a moment to catch his breath. It had been a wild game, and though Doncic had big numbers (33 points, eight assists) he was not very efficient in getting to those numbers, with four turnovers, 12-for-30 shooting and a 3-for 13 mark from the 3-point line. But he was happy Luke Kennard was there for the bailout.

Kennard’s 3-pointer with 0.6 seconds to play and the Lakers trailing, 104-102, won the game and set off a midcourt celebration that would rival anything seen during March Madness this weekend.

Doncic, who also incurred his 16th technical foul for a dust-up with Orlando’s Goga Bitadze, was especially glad for Kennard’s heroics.

Said Doncic after the game: “It was pretty awesome. I saw (Marcus) Smart under the basket saying he’s good. He’s one of the best shooters in the NBA. So I have the whole confidence in him. It was a lot of guys that made a great play — it was just beautiful to see. … Today I don’t think I played good, but we still came up with a win.”

---

Lakers Brought in Luke Kennard at Trade Deadline

Kennard was an easy to overlook acquisition from the Hawks by the Lakers at the trade deadline, when L.A. mostly disappointed fans by not making a bigger move. The team gave up point guard Gabe Vincent and a second-round pick–in 2023–in the deal.

Kennard is shooting 56.6% from the field and 46.2% from the 3-point line since coming to the Lakers (he still leads the NBA at 48.6%), averaging 8.3 points. He is limited defensively, so coach JJ Redick only uses Kennard in short spurts, and he had been struggling lately: 3.5 points on 39.1% shooting and 21.4% 3-point shooting in his last six games before Orlando.

---

Luke Kennard: ‘They Brought Me Here for a Reason’

He was 5-for-7 shooting and 3-for-4 from the 3-point line on Saturday.

“It felt really good. Obviously,” Kennard said. “Obviously credit to the guys for executing that down the stretch there — it feels good. Just being part of a new team, obviously you’re building your new relationships, trying to find your role, what you do. They brought me here for a reason. And that was to shoot. It feels good. It feels good the way everybody reacted, obviously. We’ve had a really good stretch of games, so the wind was the most important thing.

“But, it definitely felt good.”

---

Lakers Chemistry at a High

It was a good sign for the Lakers, too, that there was so much joy on Kennard’s behalf after the make. This is a team that has seemed to have awkward chemistry at times throughout the year, but is coming together at the perfect moment.

Lakers star LeBron James set up the shot for Kennard with a drive to the rim.

Said James: “Hopefully my move to the rim can pull gravity towards him. And it did. A couple guys went with me, and then left Luke wide open. One of the best shooters in the NBA. So I just tried to do my job.”

And Redick added: “I’m really happy for him. I really am. Him and I had a great conversation this morning. He wants it so bad. He wants to help this team. I think it’s hard getting traded mid season, I’ve talked about so many times. Sometimes you get in an earthly and then you get out of that rhythm. All night, he was just really really good for us. And deserved that opportunity, and all the work. That’s a money shot for him.”

Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney