Luke Kennard Discussion

He can be a piece going forward for another 6 years or more as his game will translate. Not a high flyer and doesn't beat himself up going to the rim, though he can with an opening if he gets a step, or stop and put up that little semi fall back mid range J. With that beautiful stroke from deep he'll never lose. Turns 30 on June 24. He's kind of a throw waay back with his decent handles in that he really stays on top of the ball without all the modern half or whole carries players do, and isn't out there back and forthing it between his legs. Korver played until he was 40, just checked. Dude LOVES the Lakers, is playing for a young coach that gets him and is another Dukie. I really feel confident that even if another team offered him an extra 3-4M a year starting, that if the Lakers tell him they'll take care of him later, plus him wanting to play on such a great roster as we are building that can use his expanded skills .... he will choose the Lakers.

 

Luke Kennard once lit up Ohio. Now he’s doing it for LeBron James’ Lakers
Luke Kennard once passed LeBron James on the Ohio high school basketball scoring chart. Now he's LeBron's teammate and powering the Lakers.




By Dan Woike
April 28, 2026 3:00 am PDT
By the winter of 2015, the buzz had made it to Loveland, Ohio, where 13-year-old Jaxson Hayes knew he needed to see it for himself. Word of a high-school junior hanging 51 points on Edgewood, 45 on Valley View and 53 on Bellbrook had people talking, and Hayes and his friends wanted in.

“This was a really big deal,” Hayes told The Athletic.

A group of Hayes’ friends, AAU teammates, middle school friends and some basketball-crazy dads piled into cars and made the 40-minute drive to Franklin, squeezing shoulder-to-shoulder into sold-out gyms. Like so many others in the area, Hayes packed in to watch the smooth lefty from tiny Franklin High School chase down LeBron James’ high school scoring marks.

Luke Kennard was the main event. The star of “LukeMania.” The reason the Franklin Wildcats moved games to college arenas and traveled with police escorts to small-town gyms in southwest Ohio.

“Luke’s games?” Hayes remembered. “Oh my gosh, you couldn’t stand.”

The NBA is filled with origin stories like this. So is the G League. So are leagues across European leagues and South America. Some players, like James, ride that momentum all the way to the top of the sport. Most, like Kennard, have to be OK with leaving all of that behind as they figure out how to survive.

“The reality of 99 percent of NBA players is that they were the best player on their high school and AAU team and a star in college, or, you know, a star overseas, or whatever it may be,” Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick said, “And you get to the NBA, and you got to be able to start anew.”

But circumstances have placed Kennard in a moment where the Lakers have needed him to be a little nostalgic. Injuries to Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves created a void for a star ballhandler, a perimeter scorer, a playmaker. And the guy who filled it up in Franklin knew exactly what to do.

“ It’s a big jump in intensity and the way I play, obviously, the minutes and being more involved in actions and all that,” Kennard said. “It was a quick change, obviously. But just knowing, like I had an idea of what it was gonna be like.”

The Lakers lead the Houston Rockets 3-1 in the first round of the playoffs, having survived the potentially season-altering injuries to Dončić and Reaves, thanks in part to Kennard turning back the clock.

“When I’m out there, I mean, I’m playing within the flow of the game and stuff, but I’m obviously doing things that I haven’t done in the last few years, just turnaround shots, crazy shots sometimes,” Kennard said. “Stuff I did back in high school. And I don’t feel any pressure right now to do this. I’m having a lot of fun, and I’m enjoying it, and it’s exciting.”

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/72...unlocked_article_code=1.eVA.OCLI.RDgSyS1l7SbT

 

given that we get tons of shooters that are good elsewhere and they join Lakers, shrink under the bright lights and start shooting league average or worse, I think we should not assume we can easily replace Kennard, even if we have to slightly overpay to keep him

 

Which one is the real Luke Kennard?

 

0 plays for him. He is not AR or Luka, but JJ said “eh… white boy? Close enough! Go create, Luke”

 

Latest from Fischer

 

Bring him back for three years, third being a team option.

 

Kennard regressed on offense particularly his shot but his defense was downright impressive? There was a bunch pnr switches with Hayes and Kennard and Hayes handled it perfectly

 

He's been terrible the last couple games, curious to see him against OKC

 

i don't think i'd go as far as terrible. i think jj got the drop on houston early by using kennard differently; they adjusted, and he became normal kennard.

weirdly, i really have come to like his kicksaves. he blows up a couple layups a game by just putting his foot on a good pass. hoop iq ftw.

i still like him at room exception or non-bird raise, depending on the route we take.

 

Easy peasy … Luke likes Lakers LOTS.

 

Great role player, asked to fill in a bigger role and I thought he did it admirably until the Rockets adjusted. Nothing more you can ask for.

He is good value at a raise or Room.

 

C'mon Abeer he scored 1 and 3 points in the last 2 games. 1-10 FG combined. Playing 30 minutes in both. It was horrible. He had 7 points the game before. 11 total points in 3 close out games.

He's on the court for offense purposes and if he didn't delivers there, it's bad. He also only got 5 assists combined in both games, he was just unable to have any impact since AR came back. He has 1 three in the last 3 games.
With Luka back, he will have even less opportunities to shine. I'm a bit uncomfortable with his output and starting to question how much it makes sense to spend money on him, because that money can be spent somewhere else in a player that maybe fits better.

Let's see how he does against OKC

For better clarity:
Game 4: 32mins, 7pts, 3-8 FG, 0-3 3FG, 3 rebs, 2 ast, 2to
Game 5: 31mins, 1pt, 0-4 FG, 0-2 3FG, 3 rebs, 2 ast, 2stls, 1to
Game 6: 29mins, 3pts, 1-6 FG, 1-2 3FG, 3 rebs, 3 ast, 1stl, 1to

 

tbh, he stopped shooting well after 2, lol. but they had to devote one of their top defenders to him to make that happen, which is kind of a win. unfortunately, okc has, like six guys capable of clamping kennard by themselves, so that won't be fun.

as a shooter and secondary playmaker, i like kennard. i think the talk of him getting mle money or more was just afterglow from games 1 and 2. his body of work says he's a 10m per type player (8th/9th man). whether that's how we want to spend the money depends on what else we do, i think if we don't bring in a wing who can defend POA, it becomes an awkward fit.

 

He was JCVD'ing the hell out of the ball

 

Yeah I really like him in isolation and do think we need someone like him from the bench: shoots well and is able to handle some. It's also a good backup when Luka/AR are out, which can help a lot navigate the regular season.

But these playoffs and the math engineering needed to keep him while addressing all the other needs is complicated. Would be perfect when you already have your roster set, cap near the aprons and you can get him with one of the exceptions to add to your team without cap implications or if you re-signed him without impacting the cap and aprons.
But in this scenario, when the summer may be use for foundation construction it may be between him vs adding a wing defender to this group

Hope he finds a way to be impactful in this OKC series, won't be easy but would be nice to see him learn how to react to these disappointing games when it matters the most

 

Before we move on to the next one, did want to give him props for finding his shot again.

2/3 from deep, 4/5 overall.


Hopefully that's the break out from the slump. We've missed his shooting during the fall off.


Wonder if it's from the neck soreness, which JJ said he's been battling for a bit, that soreness/tightness could definitely impact your range of motion which would then in turn impact your shooting feel/ motion.

 

We need him to shoot more. It’s always been his problem, he should be taking 10 threes against OKC if we want to win.