{"id":179771,"date":"2026-03-02T14:52:53","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T19:52:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=179771"},"modified":"2026-03-02T14:52:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T19:52:53","slug":"unselfish-and-selfless-lakers-center-making-case-to-stick-around","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/03\/02\/unselfish-and-selfless-lakers-center-making-case-to-stick-around\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Unselfish and Selfless\u2019 Lakers Center Making Case to Stick Around"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/03\/01\/lakers-blender-starter-could-be-the-real-x-factor-going-forward\/\" target=\"_self\">Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> steamrolled the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/02\/22\/is-there-any-light-left-sacramento-kings-beam\/\" target=\"_self\">Sacramento Kings<\/a> Sunday night, fans quickly noticed a veteran who stayed ready so he didn\u2019t have to get ready. <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/klebima01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maxi Kleber<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> answered the call in a modest 13 minutes, with teammates and coaches praising his impact amid an otherwise inconsistent campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>\u2018Unselfish and Selfless\u2019 Lakers Center Making Case to Stick Around<\/h2>\n<h3>Maxi-mum Effort<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 34-year-old big man recorded six points, six rebounds and a block against Sacramento\u2014including a <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/LakersEmpire\/status\/2028328588832080118\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">pair of poster dunks<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and a <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/LakersLegacyPod\/status\/2028351899993538586\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">brick-wall defensive play<\/a> that led to a brief confrontation with ex-Laker <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/monkma01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Malik Monk<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Maxi Kleber we were not familiar with your game, sir. \ud83d\ude33<\/p>\n<p>(via <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SpectrumSN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@SpectrumSN<\/a>) <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/nxByc49EtZ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/nxByc49EtZ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Lakers Nation (@LakersNation) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LakersNation\/status\/2028310277851345249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 2, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/LakersLegacyPod\/status\/2028351899993538586\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><\/span><\/a><p class=\"\" style=\"max-width: 800px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"b0c95bc04383cef69c6b47df872135cf\" image-id=\"WmOBjNiSPWXt\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 4475px; aspect-ratio: 4475\/2984;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Brief opportunities have primarily defined Kleber&#8217;s ninth season, from DNPs and garbage time to becoming the backup five after <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/aytonde01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deandre Ayton<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019s injury. His numbers don\u2019t jump off the page\u20142.2 points and 2.0 rebounds across 34 games\u2014but he\u2019s been a pleasant surprise nonetheless. Fully healthy after undergoing <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.cbssports.com\/fantasy\/basketball\/news\/mavericks-maxi-kleber-undergoes-foot-surgery\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">foot surgery last year<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Kleber has given the Lakers much-needed physicality in spurts, crashing the glass, protecting the paint and, once in a while, spacing the floor.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a postgame interview Sunday, <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SpectrumSN\/status\/2028357131938807974\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kleber outlined his role<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on both ends:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI just focus on staying ready, being ready. On the defensive side, making sure I communicate to the guys, make the right decisions on the switches, on the screen calls. On the offensive side, setting good screens, getting my teammates open, because I know if I do that, I might get a dish here and there.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h4>Redick: Kleber \u2018Plays Winning Basketball\u2019<\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Head coach JJ Redick, along with teammates <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hachiru01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rui Hachimura<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/doncilu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Luka Doncic<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, made sure to <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RyanWardLA\/status\/2028359149827018782\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">give Kleber his flowers<\/a>, emphasizing how <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RyanWardLA\/status\/2028358761501659253\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">his energy rubs off on the rest of the team<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Redick\u2014who was <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/friv\/teammates_and_opponents.fcgi?pid_select=J.J.%20Redick&amp;pid=redicjj01&amp;idx=players&amp;type=t\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kleber\u2019s former teammate<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in Dallas\u2014<\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=VZM2zhN93lw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">told reporters<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s easy to root for his success. \u2026 Because of when he started his NBA career and some of these injuries, he\u2019s not the same that he was when he was at his peak in Dallas. I thought he was one of the most impactful and versatile defenders in the NBA. But he just plays winning basketball. Very unselfish and selfless.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the performance may not be enough to crack Redick\u2019s rotation going forward, Kleber has shown he can be an effective \u201cbreak glass in case of emergency\u201d option among the Lakers\u2019 bigs.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Lakers Should Re-Sign Kleber<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Regardless of how the rest of the year shakes out, Kleber has given the Lakers reasons to keep him around after his $11 million salary expires this summer. Despite approaching his age-35 season, it would not hurt to bring him back on a minimum deal as insurance in the frontcourt, particularly if the center rotation keeps taking hits with injuries and foul trouble.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The team has a history of employing locker room vets who can make an impact in limited minutes. Kleber has filled that role to a tee so far, and there\u2019s little reason to switch that up next season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a9 William Navarro-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the Los Angeles Lakers steamrolled the Sacramento Kings Sunday night, fans quickly noticed a veteran who stayed ready so he didn\u2019t have to get ready. Maxi Kleber answered the call in a modest 13 minutes, with teammates and coaches praising his impact amid an otherwise inconsistent campaign. \u2018Unselfish and Selfless\u2019 Lakers Center Making Case [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":179774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,26,62],"tags":[2279,1133,2057,1749],"class_list":["post-179771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","tag-jj-redick","tag-luka-doncic","tag-maxi-kleber","tag-rui-hachimura"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179771"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179771\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":179781,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179771\/revisions\/179781"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}