There have been a lot of questions regarding the Los Angeles Lakers’ defense throughout most of this season. The Lakers are currently allowing 114.8 points per game on average, with opponents scoring a high field goal percentage of 47.7%. These statistics aren’t pretty and not what you want moving closer to the midpoint season. With aspirations and hopes of trying to make the playoffs once again, they will need to bolster their defense. Of course, without the help of Jarred Vanderbilt and Christian Wood, the defense has plummeted to start the year. The key moving forward without these two is to maintain solid defense through until they return.
Defense is Key for Lakers Moving Forward
Updates on Defensive Reinforcements
The Los Angeles Lakers got hit by the injury bug hard at the start of the season as Christian Wood and Jarred Vanderbilt have yet to make their 2024-25 debuts. As of December 3, 2024, Vanderbilt, is targeting a return in January. Vanderbilt’s return has been delayed from his previous target of the regular season opener against Minnesota. Just a few weeks ago, the Lakers gave a promising update in regards to Vanderbilt’s injury and return. ESPN’s Dave McMenamin reported on December 3,
“Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt has recently experienced fluid in his left knee during his rehabilitation from offseason procedures to both feet and is targeting early January for his return”.
New ESPN story w/ @ShamsCharania: Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt has recently experienced fluid in his left knee and is now targeting early January for his return https://t.co/YEjtCXDdyU
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) December 3, 2024
Wood came off of knee surgery last season following an injury in February. This injury would sideline him for the remainder of the 2023-24 season, but he appeared ready to go to start this season. After suffering another setback, had to get another surgery done. Because of that, he was ruled out for at least four more weeks in the middle of November. Those four weeks have passed and we’ve gotten an update from head coach, JJ Redick.
“With Christian, he continues to progress,” Redick said after practice on Tuesday. “We don’t have necessarily a set date for his return to play with us, but the progress has been good. He’s gonna stay back and do live against the coaching associates while we’re in Sacramento, which is a big step forward for him.”
With no exact timeframe as to when Wood will return, it’s safe to say himself and Vanderbilt should be back on the floor sometime around the start of the new year. This is great news for the purple and gold, as they look forward to bolstering their defense heading into the second half of the season.
Key Defense
On Sunday’s win against the Memphis Grizzlies, the Lakers held one of the West’s best teams to just 39.2% shooting and 32.1% from 3-point range. Afterwards, Anthony Davis pointed to the Lakers’ defense as being the key to victory on Sunday night.
“Our defense. We were really good defensively,” Davis said. “Game plan, discipline was really good. Max was really good on the job. Cam. Obviously, Morant’s the head of the snake in getting them going. I think we did a good job of making him take tough shots, earn tough shots. Got away, the end of the third was able to stay forward … get it back and ultimately win the game.”
Now, it will be a matter of carrying this defensive performance moving forward. Davis feels the Lakers can do that.
“Just playing hard,” Davis stated. “We’re playing physical on the string, we’re flying around. We’re covering for each other. Once we do those things, it makes it easier for us defensively to get in the ball, to rebound, to communicate when you know you have protection if you get beat or blow by, closeout, whatever it is. So when we’re on the string, and we’re together, we’re a pretty good defensive team.”
Playing hard and physical will be key parts to being a successful defensive team. When you take a look at the current Lakers roster, their offense seems to not be the issue. It all starts with their defense, securing rebounds, being a nuisance on the perimeter, and creating stops. If they are to continue this level of defense, especially by the time Vanderbilt and Wood return, it will be promising for this team moving into the second half of the season.
