{"id":73506,"date":"2024-04-15T18:46:03","date_gmt":"2024-04-15T22:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=73506"},"modified":"2024-04-15T18:46:03","modified_gmt":"2024-04-15T22:46:03","slug":"insider-projects-return-for-lakers-defensive-stopper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/15\/insider-projects-return-for-lakers-defensive-stopper\/","title":{"rendered":"Insider Projects Return for Lakers Defensive Stopper"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the Lakers preparing for a Play-in game against the Pelicans tomorrow, there\u2019s a promising update for fans eyeing the return of one key player: defensive-minded wing <\/span>Jarred Vanderbilt<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Insider Projects Return for Lakers Defensive Stopper<\/b><\/h2>\n

The Latest on Jarred Vanderbilt<\/b><\/h3>\n

Vando has been out since Feb. 1 with a midfoot sprain and has had no concrete timetable for a return since then. Lakers insider Jovan Buha offered new insight on LA\u2019s premier defender <\/span>towards the end of his live stream on Saturday<\/span><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were told today that there\u2019s been no official update. They\u2019re not sure when there\u2019s going to be an update. He did have a good workout, according to Darvin Ham. I\u2019ve been told that Vando has ramped up his conditioning into light jogging, but he has not returned to on-court contact activity yet\u2026Even playing in the Play-in seems unlikely.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo if Vando returns, it\u2019s appearing as if it\u2019s going to have to be in the first-round of the playoffs on the early side.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In 29 games this season, Vanderbilt averaged 5.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.2 steals per game. The 25-year-old southpaw shot nearly 52% from the field, 30% from three and 67% from the free-throw line.<\/span><\/p>\n

How a Vanderbilt Return Impacts the Lakers<\/b><\/h3>\n

Assuming the Lakers <\/span>advance out of the Play-in<\/span><\/a> and face either the Nuggets or Thunder, Vanderbilt\u2019s return is a major boost regardless of the matchup. The Lakers have sorely missed his presence in the frontcourt, and his defense would be essential against key opposing forwards in <\/span>Michael Porter Jr<\/span><\/a>., <\/span>Aaron Gordon<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Lu Dort<\/span><\/a> or <\/span>Jalen Williams<\/span><\/a>. There\u2019s also a chance he could be switched onto the star bigs\u2014<\/span>Nikola Joki\u0107<\/span><\/a> or <\/span>Chet Holmgren<\/span><\/a>\u2014and he\u2019d be valuable in that sense as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

If Vanderbilt is unable to return in the first round, expect the Lakers to continually rely on two other wings.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rui Hachimura<\/span><\/a> has thrived as a starter, averaging 13.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists on .537\/.422\/.739 splits. He has boasted 16.2 points per game as a starter after the All-Star break, doing so on 56% shooting from the field and 45% from deep. Veteran <\/span>Taurean Prince<\/span><\/a> has also stepped up at times despite moving back to the bench. In 29 games with the second unit, he put up 7.8 points on 47% shooting from the field and 43% from distance. In LA’s win over Cleveland, Prince notably recorded 18 points (7\/9 FG, 4\/5 3PT) in 20 minutes as a reserve.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both Hachimura and Prince have shouldered the load alongside <\/span>LeBron James<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>Anthony Davis<\/span><\/a> up front, and they will keep being called upon regardless of Vando\u2019s health when he returns.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, the possibility of Vanderbilt returning next week is exciting, and it provides some relief for Laker fans stressed about the team\u2019s postseason push.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the Lakers preparing for a Play-in game against the Pelicans tomorrow, there\u2019s a promising update for fans eyeing the return of one key player: defensive-minded wing Jarred Vanderbilt. Insider Projects Return for Lakers Defensive Stopper The Latest on Jarred Vanderbilt Vando has been out since Feb. 1 with a midfoot sprain and has had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":73509,"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":[240,2941,38,1749,1383],"class_list":["post-73506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","tag-anthony-davis","tag-jarred-vanderbilt","tag-lebron-james","tag-rui-hachimura","tag-taurean-prince"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73506","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=73506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}