{"id":179648,"date":"2026-03-01T17:00:46","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T22:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=179648"},"modified":"2026-03-01T17:00:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T22:00:46","slug":"lakers-blender-starter-could-be-the-real-x-factor-going-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/03\/01\/lakers-blender-starter-could-be-the-real-x-factor-going-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers’ ‘Blender Starter’ Could Be the Real X-Factor Going Forward"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday night showed exactly why the <\/span>Los Angeles Lakers<\/span><\/a> traded for <\/span>Luke Kennard<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 29-year-old torched the Golden State Warriors for 16 points (season-high as a Laker) on 6-of-10 shooting from the field and 4-of-7 from three, to go along with three rebounds, three assists and a steal. The outing not only drew high praise from head coach JJ Redick, but was also the latest sign of what the team\u2019s second unit missed all season long.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lakers’ ‘Blender Starter’ Could Be the Real X-Factor Going Forward<\/h2>\n

JJ Redick Singles Out Luke Kennard<\/h3>\n

In his postgame remarks following LA\u2019s 129-101 win over Golden State\u2014which he referred to as the team\u2019s \u201cmost complete game post All-Star break”\u2014<\/span>Redick said<\/span><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBoy, Luke Kennard, he just starts the blender for us. We frankly have not had a ton of \u2018blender starters.\u2019 And obviously, Luka gets two on the ball, AR gets two on the ball, LeBron will get two on the ball. But just to be able to create a closeout and then make the right read and right play from there, I thought our guys were incredibly unselfish tonight. But it started with that starting group, and then I thought Luke was huge for our offense tonight.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Luke Kennard is generating an absurd 1.52 points per shot attempt as a Laker. That's the best number of any guard or forward in the NBA, with only exclusively lob-finishing bigs like Jaxson Hayes & Jericho Sims averaging more points per shot attempt.<\/p>\n

— Trevor Lane (@TrevorLane) March 1, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n