{"id":621795,"date":"2026-05-03T22:31:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T22:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/621795\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T22:31:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T22:31:18","slug":"lakers-11m-gamble-reportedly-playing-for-future-alongside-luka-doncic-this-postseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/621795\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers’ $11M gamble reportedly playing for future alongside Luka Doncic this postseason"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lakers’ $11M gamble reportedly playing for future alongside Luka Doncic this postseason<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> made the decision to trade for Luke Kennard<\/a>, which was their only move at the trade deadline. While Luka Don\u010di\u0107<\/a> was healthy, Kennard and he formed a strong offensive pairing.<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u201cDuring the last six games, the pair have played 88 minutes together. During that time, Doncic and Kennard have posted an offensive rating of 125.7 on the court. That is the fourth most of any duo who have shared the hardwood for at least 50 minutes. What is doubly notable about that is the three two-man combinations above them too. Each of those features one of either Doncic or Kennard. Between Luka and Luke, there has to be some sort of nickname in there for this new dynamic duo in Los Angeles<\/a>. If they keeping performing like they have thus far, it will be owed to them,\u201d Lake Show Life\u2019s Syvatoslav Rovenchuk wrote.<\/p>\n

With the two playing well together on the court, the Lakers have shown real interest in re-signing him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Los Angeles Lakers have strong interest in re-signing Luke Kennard this offseason, sources told Lakers Daily,\u201d Lakers Daily\u2019s Ashish Mathur wrote.<\/a><\/p>\n

Kennard got off to a hot start against the Houston Rockets<\/a> but cooled off as the series went on. Now, he will need to prove he is worthy of another contract by performing against the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u201cKennard may be playing for his future in Los Angeles. The Lakers traded for him and would like to bring him back, but LA will be contending for the foreseeable future. If the 6\u20195 wing continues to struggle in the playoffs, the Lakers may be forced to rethink their plans. Fans have seen this before. Kennard\u2019s hesitancy to fire away from 3-point can be a problem. He likes to take and make open looks. Those dwindle in the playoffs. The opposing team is locked in on tendencies and isn\u2019t going to let one of the best shooters in NBA history get open,\u201d Lake Show Life\u2019s Tyler Watts wrote.<\/a><\/p>\n

Kennard is one of the most efficient shooters in the NBA, but he can still show hesitation when it comes to letting shots fly. That cannot be the case in the playoffs, when defenses are locked in and opportunities are limited.<\/p>\n

Kennard is currently on an $11 million deal<\/a>, and his next contract is expected to be in a similar range. This upcoming series against the Thunder will serve as an important audition for the left-handed sharpshooter.<\/p>\n

More NBA news:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lakers’ $11M gamble reportedly playing for future alongside Luka Doncic this postseason originally appeared on The Sporting News.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621796,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[5050,3031,1055,3014,47174,355,6402,99],"class_list":["post-621795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-houston-rockets","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-luka-doncic","tag-luke-kennard","tag-nba","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}