Articles

The Four Principles That Guided Rob Pelinka’s Big Makeover Of The Lakers

September 17, 2023 By LakerTom 7 Comments

After disastrously trading for Russell Westbrook, Rob Pelinka’s pulled off a dramatic comeback by prioritizing fit, upside, tradability, and continuity to transform the Lakers from a lottery team to a championship contender.

The problem that’s haunted the Lakers the last three years was not that Pelinka didn’t know what the right moves to make were. He just didn’t have the will and resolve to stick to his principles. The last six months, he has. Every move Rob’s made from the last trade deadline through this offseason has been about putting together a deep and diverse roster with players who meet his four guiding principles of fit, upside, tradability, and continuity.

When you’re general manager of the Lakers, the pressure is intense not only to hit a homerun every time up but to hit a game-winning, grand-slam homerun. We saw how that worked when we traded for Russell Westbrook. Since then, however, Rob has been impressively patient and consistent. While there’ve been disappointments like Beasley’s inability to fit and Dlo’s and Vando’s playoff vulnerability, Rob’s essentially hit a grand-slam homer.

Pelinka’s grand makeover not only has elevated the Lakers to being one of the top six favorites to win the 2024 NBA Championship but also positioned them perfectly with a plethora of coveted players on tradable contracts. Pelinka may have some tough decisions to make come the trade deadline. Unless expectations are not met, the Lakers are more likely again to make moves to improve on the margins than to foolishly chase a third superstar.

Let’s take a closer look at how Rob Pelinka used fit, upside, tradability, and continuity as his guiding principles to build a deep, diverse rotation that transforms the Lakers from a lottery team to a championship contender.

1. Fit

The first personal quality Rob Pelinka and the Lakers’ front office looked for when evaluating trade and free agency candidates was how they fit alongside LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the rest of the team’s roster.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what it takes to fit alongside two superstars like James and Davis. Even the Lakers understand they need players who’ve proven they can be effective with and without the ball.
The other players on the court with LeBron and AD have to be able to make the inevitable open shots they’ll receive and do the small team-first things like passing, rebounding, and defending that championships require.

For the Lakers, the player who’s the best fit alongside James and Davis is Austin Reaves, the early favorite to win MIP next season after his breakout play for the Lakers in the playoffs and Team USA in the FIBA World Cup.
The Lakers’ priority was to avoid having to match a $100 million offer for Reaves, who’s a restricted free agent, which they were able to do by scaring off suiters and re-signing him to a below market 4-year $56 million deal.

Fit was also the clearly why the Lakers used their NT MLE to sign backup point guard Gabe Vincent to a 3-year $33 million deal and their BAE to sign backup small forward Taurean Prince to a 1-year $4.5 million contract.
Vincent and Prince were perfect examples of Pelinka smartly prioritizing fit in choosing whom to sign with his prized MLE and BAE. Like Reaves, both perfectly fit the 3&D model needed to optimize James and Davis.

Rob Pelinka and the Lakers learned their lesson with Russell Westbrook and prioritized fit as the first quality when choosing which players to bring back or sign to transform them from a lottery team to a title contender.

2. Upside

The second personal quality the Lakers prioritized in building their current roster is upside. Rather than surrounding James and Davis with older vets, Pelinka complemented his superstars solely with players in their twenties.

Amazingly, the average age of the 15 players Pelinka has surrounded James and Davis with is 23.9-years old. Even with 38-year old James and 30-year old Davis included, the average age of the Lakers is still just 25.1-years old.
The Lakers are the 15th youngest team in the league with greater upside than the Clippers, Bucks, 76ers, Warriors, Suns, Raptors, and Heat, the seven oldest teams in the league with average team ages over 27.0 years.

With a player development oriented coaching staff, L.A. is committed to surrounding James and Davis with young players who have the upside to grow, develop, and get better, especially playing with a star like LeBron. They’re parlaying their success with low risk, high reward players like Malik Monk, Lonnie Walker, and Dennis Schroder and hoping to strike gold again with projects Christian Wood, Cam Reddish, and Jaxson Hayes.

The Lakers have done a great job establishing themselves as the mecca for low risk, high reward players looking to redeem their games and revive their brands playing in the bright lights of Los Angeles with Bron and AD.
The Lakers see Wood’s upside as a potential starting center in a two-bigs lineup with Anthony Davis, Reddish’s ceiling as their long coveted starting small forward, and Hayes’ future as a dominant two-way backup center.

Pelinka’s transformation of the Lakers’ roster surrounding James and Davis to prioritize upside has been nothing short of a miracle. The Lakers clearly have greater roster upside than all the other championship contenders.

3. Tradability

Rob Pelinka’s third guiding principle in building a championship roster has been tradability, making sure that every player they sign or trade for not only possess a coveted NBA skillset but also has a team friendly contract.

Unlike last trade deadline, when the Lakers were desperate to trade Russell Westbrook, this Lakers’ roster has nothing but players whose games have solid value as well as untapped upside and contracts are easily tradable.
The Lakers may not have multiple first round picks to trade but they do have a plethora of quality trading chips in the form of solid talented young players who have legitimate NBA upsides and team friendly contracts.

How the Lakers do the first half of the season will determine what they do at the trade deadline. Chances are they will make moves to continue to upgrade the roster on the margins rather than trying to add a third star. Trading for a center like Myles Turner, a volume 3-point shooter like Gary Trent, Jr., or legitimate bigger 3&D starting wing like O.G. Anunoby would be more likely than a blockbuster deal for Trae Young or Zach LaVine.

How players perform the first half of year will also impact their tradability at the deadline. Most observers expect any trade the Lakers complete to include D’Angelo Russell, who waived his ‘no trade’ rights when re-signed.
Right now, Austin Reaves is probably untouchable as are LeBron James and Anthony Davis and Jarred Vanderbilt just signed a new 4-year $48 million contract, which gives him and the Lakers time to grow his game and value.

Besides enjoying a deep and diverse roster of players that can win games, the Lakers also have an impressive portfolio of tradable players to take full advantage of emerging opportunities to upgrade the roster at the deadline.

4. Continuity

Last but not least, Pelinka’s fourth guiding principle for upgrading the Lakers’ roster from lottery team to championship contender is continuity. The Lakers have committed to establishing continuity going forward.

L.A. returned seven players from last year’s team, extending Anthony Davis, D’Angelo Russell, and Jarred Vanderbilt and re-signing Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura to go along with LeBron James and Max Christie.
L.A. also signed five free agents in Gabe Vincent, Taurean Prince, Jaxson Hayes, Cam Reddish, and Christian Wood and two draft picks in Jalen Hood-Schifino and Maxwell Lewis for a total of seven new players.

That gave the Lakers an extremely deep and diverse 14-player roster, one roster spot that they will likely keep open for buyout candidate, and three rookie two-way players in Colin Castleton, D’Moi Hodge, and Alex Fudge.
7 players (Davis, Reaves, Hachimura, Vincent, Vanderbilt, Hood-Schifino, Lewis ) have long-term deals, 5 players (James, Russell, Wood, Reddish, Hayes) have 1+1 deals, and 2 players (Christie, Prince ) have 1-year deals.

Since winning their 17th NBA championship in the bubble in 2020, the Lakers got into the unfortunate habit of essentially turning over their entire roster every offseason and essentially killing any continuity.
With Pelinka committing the franchise to continuity, the Lakers can continue to build a dynamic and sustainable championship caliber roster with 9 to 12 young core players locked up in team-friendly contracts.

Overall, Pelinka’s fourth roster building guiding principle is continuity, which gives the Lakers a minimum of 8 and maximum of 14 players who could come back to defend their 18th and win their 19th championship.

How Lakers Can Play 12-Man Rotation And Give James And Davis ‘Rest’ Days

September 13, 2023 By LakerTom 3 Comments

With the signing of Christian Wood, the Lakers now have what could be the best 12-man rotation in the NBA if they can figure out how to get minutes for everybody and how to keep their older injury-prone superstars healthy.

While the NBA’s new Player Participation Policy has tightened rules about resting stars, the time’s come for the Lakers to embrace load management to keep LeBron James and Anthony Davis healthy and extend their careers.
Right now, the Lakers current roster is so deep and diverse the team has a unique opportunity to give all 12 legitimate rotation players viable minutes while also giving James, Davis, and other players well needed ‘rest’ games.

The Lakers’ problem is they have 12 legitimate rotation players but only enough minutes in any given game to realistically play 10 players. Luckily, having 12 quality rotation players is also an opportunity for the Lakers. Instead of settling for a 10-man rotation and turning 2 players into injury insurance, the Lakers should deploy an innovative 12-man rotation that ‘plays’ a different 10 players and ‘rests’ a different 2 players every game.

Having a 12-man rotation that allows the Lakers to rest 2 players every game while still putting a championship caliber lineup on the court should make the Lakers an even better and deeper team going into the playoffs. Because all their rotation players will have chances to play important minutes and some even to start games, their confidence, experience, and ability to play winning basketball should be dramatically improved.

Opportunity knock and the Lakers have the depth and diversity to answer. Their unorthodox 12-man rotation can both give the Lakers’ 12 rotation player needed minutes and their superstars and starters needed ‘rests.’

Lakers Projected Depth Chart

Here’s the Lakers’ projected depth chart for next season per the Athletic’s Jovan Buha with Russell, Reaves, Hachimura, James, and Davis starting and Vincent, Christie, Prince, Vanderbilt, and Wood as the primary backups:

The above depth chart easily translates into a 10-man rotation comprised of the 5 starters and 5 primary backups at each of the five positions. The big problem with this 10-man rotation is that it leaves out Reddish and Hayes.

Lakers Projected Rotation Minutes

Here are Buha’s projected minutes per game for the Lakers’ 10-man rotation that includes the five starters and primary backups but does not include Cam Reddish, Jaxson Hayes, or the two rookie draft picks:

It’s easy to see from the above chart per player that the optimum Lakers rotation is probably 9 players as 4 minutes in each half for 8 minutes in a game is not enough for for Jarred Vanderbilt to get into any rhythm.

How 12-Man Rotation Would Work

Here is a basic guide as to how the Lakers’ 12-man rotation would work to give all 12 of the team’s legitimate rotation players viable minutes to play while allowing James, Davis, and other players to rest every 7th game.

The Lakers 12-man rotation is just a blueprint or guideline rather than a firm set of inviolable rules Darvin Ham and LeBron James and Anthony Davis have to follow when deciding who plays and rests for each game.

Basically, the Lakers need to narrow the rotation for each game to the 10 players for whom they have minutes by not playing 2 players, who could be players who are actually injured or players who are getting a ‘rest day.’
The only load management limitation is the Lakers cannot rest both James and Davis, their two players classified as ‘stars,’ in the same game or rest either of them in nationally televised or in-season tournament games.

For the Lakers’ 12-man rotation to achieve its goals of giving all 12 rotation players viable minutes while resting superstars, all 12 legitimate rotation players need to participate in and benefit from the ‘rest days’ program.
While the reasons for load managing James and Davis are most important, teams are learning more and more that embracing load management can help keep the entire team healthier with fewer and less severe injuries.

The NBA just came out with new rules and penalties for team’s resting star players during nationally televised games, of which the Laker have 28, or resting two stars, which L.A. has in James and Davis, in the same game.
The NBA will not require players who are older than 35 years old or have severe injury history to play in back-to-back games not nationally televised. Of the Lakers 15 back-to-back games, 11 have nationally televised games.

That means James could rest during the first game and Davis during the second game of 4 or the 15 back-to-backs. Both would have to play in the 11 televised back-to-backs but one star could rest in the non-televised game.
Here are some other numbers to consider. The regular season includes 82 games. Lakers have 28 nationally televised games where they cannot rest either James or Davis, leaving just 54 games where they could rest one star.

By deploying a 12-man rotation, the Lakers are essentially embracing load management and committing to the idea that you can ultimately get more games and minutes from your major players by strategically resting them.

Lakers 12-Man Rotation Is Winner

The Los Angeles Lakers are trying to have their cake and eat it too by building a team that can win at least one more championship before LeBron James retires but still be a title contender after he has gone.

Rob Pelinka and Darvin Ham essentially have the Lakers now perfectly positioned to potentially pull off that seemingly miraculous double win as this Lakers team is clearly the deepest since LeBron signed with L.A.
The key to the Lakers winning their 18th championship is still the health of superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis but the Lakers suddenly have the depth now to give both superstars a dozen rest days during the season.

While a 15% reduction in games played isn’t going to guarantee James and Davis will remain healthy, the Lakers would be dumb not to make whatever moves they can to smartly reduce their superstars’ minutes and workload. That can be done by giving them a dozen rest games and limiting them to under 30 minutes per game. The NBA’s new Player Participation Policy has now essentially legitimized the need for teams to load manage their stars.

Besides giving LeBron and AD smart opportunities to rest during a long regular season, playing a 12-man rotation should give the Lakers a chance to become a better team and earn a higher seed when the playoffs start.
For the Lakers, that could mean the difference between Cam Reddish and Jackson Hayes getting realistic opportunities to show they could be this season’s low risk, high reward players who rebuilt their brand in L.A.

Bottom line, spreading games and minutes between 12 legitimate rotation players would not only help the Lakers load manage their stars and players but also make them a better and stronger team heading into the playoffs.

Christian Wood Signing Makes Lakers So Deep It Doesn’t Matter Who Starts

September 7, 2023 By LakerTom 5 Comments

The remade Los Angeles Lakers are so deep after signing Christian Wood that it doesn’t matter who starts because they have the depth and diversity to create multiple starting lineups that could win an NBA championship.

That Rob Pelinka was able to put together this roster from the ashes of the Russell Westbrook trade while both getting younger and remaining under the hard cap is nothing short of miraculous and deserving of EOY honors. After passing opportunities to trade Westbrook last offseason, Pelinka parlayed difference-making trade deadline and offseason moves to remake the lottery Lakers into what should be one of the championship favorites.

In a different universe, these Lakers could be a team that alternates two or more different starting lineups to better matchup with and beat specific opponents who play big or small or superstars who need special attention.
Regardless of who the Lakers start, they have so much depth and diversity off the bench that they can easily make quick changes to fix problems or improve matchups. Look for Ham to consistently play 11 or 12 players.

That 11/12-man rotation includes superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis plus five shooters who can score 20 points any game in D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, Gabe Vincent, and Christian Wood. The Lakers’ greatly increased size, dramatically improved outside shooting, and desperately needed new options on the wing have provided the depth and diversity to create multiple championship caliber starting lineups.

Think how deep an NBA team must be to have the ability to create multiple championship caliber starting lineups. There are probably other Lakers players like Vincent and Hayes who could also have shots at being starters. What we’re likely to see from the Lakers is an evolving starting lineup that enters training camp with Rui Hachimura as the favorite fifth starter but with Cam Reddish and Christian Wood looking to take that spot from him.

With Christian Wood signed, this Lakers’ roster is so deep and talented with so many trustworthy starting lineup options and promising low risk, high reward projects that it does not matter which players end up starting.

The Three Most Likely Lakers Starting Lineups

Assuming James, Davis, Reaves, and Russell start, the Lakers’ best options for a fifth starter include last year playoffs hero Rui Hachimura, talented 3&D wing Cam Reddish, or just acquired stretch five Christian Wood.

The Los Angeles Lakers’ overriding priority in deciding who will be the team’s fifth starter is to find the player who best fits with and complements the Russell and Reaves backcourt and the James and Davis front court.
Needless to say, the player who is the best fit and best complements the other four starters may not be the fifth best player on the team. Or even the sixth or seventh. The key is who makes the Lakers’ starting lineup best.

While healthy competition at multiple positions will likely determine who ends up being the Lakers fifth starter, the current favorite to win the fifth starting position heading into training camp is probably Rui Hachimura. Rui played extremely well in the playoffs, his career 51.9% from deep in the playoffs being a record despite a career 34.7% from deep for the regular season. Lakers hope Rui can will break out this year as a second tier star.

Should Rui not provide consistent floor spacing and quality wing defense needed from the fifth starter, the Lakers could turn to a young prototype small forward Cam Reddish who has the talent to be a legitimate 3&D wing.
Reddish has no chance to start when the season begins but he could have an opportunity once he earns Ham’s trust because he has the size and skills at both ends to allow James and Davis to continue to play the four and five.

Regardless of how well Hachimura or Reddish play, it’s almost inevitable the Lakers ultimately revert to starting two-bigs lineups with Wood at the five to accommodate Davis’ stated desire to play more four and less five. Once Wood proves he’s bought into the Lakers philosophy and Ham is confident he’s ready, Christian should become the Lakers’ starting center with his ability to shoot the basketball from deep and protect the rim.

Ultimately, Anthony Davis wants to play the four and the Lakers want to play two bigs, which means that Christian Wood should eventually become the Lakers’ fifth starter as opposed to Rui Hachimura or Cam Reddish.

Why It Doesn’t Matter Who Starts for Lakers

Ultimately, who starts for the Lakers doesn’t really matter because all the team’s viable starting lineups are championship caliber with two superstars and a talented deep and diverse roster that can shoot, pass, and defend.

As long as Davis and James are healthy and playing at their peak, this Lakers roster is too deep and diverse with plug-and-play rotation players who shoot, rebound, pass, defend not to contend for a championship.
It’s not going to make a difference whether it’s Hachimura, Reddish, or Wood who becomes the fifth starter alongside James, Davis, Reaves, and Russell. In fact, there’s a good chance all three could start at some point.

During their championship run in 2020, the Los Angeles Lakers’ starting lineup featured JaVale McGee starting at center to begin the season, Dwight Howard to close out the season, and Anthony Davis during the playoffs.
There’s a possible scenario where the Lakers begin the season with Rui Hachimura as the fifth starter, switch to Cam Reddish midway through the season, and finally go two-bigs with Christian Wood at five in the playoffs.

For a team as deep and diverse as these Lakers, who plays to close out quarters, halves, and games could be more important than who starts the game, provided the starters don’t consistently fall way behind opponents. Especially for the regular season, the Lakers would be wise to take full advantage of their depth and diversity by limiting the time played by both Anthony Davis and LeBron James to less than 30 minutes per game.

Ultimately, how Hachimura, Reddish, and Wood actually play on the court, fill their roles, and fit with the other Lakers starters will determine who ends up being the fifth starter. That’s what camp and preseason are for. Unlike other seasons, the Lakers enter camp with major positional battles both in the back and front courts. With lots of questions that need to be answered, the Lakers floor is the playoffs and ceiling championship.

The Lakers are extremely fortunate that they were able to build a roster so deep and diverse that it allows them to create multiple different starting lineups good enough to compete for and win an NBA championship.

Could Lakers Pull Off Mega Midseason Trade But Keep Championship Depth?

August 30, 2023 By LakerTom 5 Comments

Thanks to great moves at last season’s trade deadline and this offseason, the Lakers now find themselves with the deepest and most talented roster and the most legitimate tradable contracts since signing LeBron James.

That bodes well for the Lakers’ championship hopes for next season and for their chances to pull off a blockbuster move before the trade deadline to upgrade their roster from championship contender to title favorite.
The Lakers find themselves in the enviable position of not having to make a move to compete for a championship but they won’t hesitate to swing for the fences if the right player or players were suddenly to become available.

Everybody knows the Lakers would like to trade for a third superstar to play alongside LeBron and AD, help win a championship this season, and then replace James whenever he decides to retire or leave in free agency. The Lakers still have two open roster spots to fill and are hoping to add enough depth so they’ll still have a strong 10-man rotation even after trading two or three current players for a third star before the deadline.

While Rob Pelinka has done a masterful job rebuilding the team on the court, he’s done an even better job cleaning up and optimizing the Lakers salary cap so he has the trading chips to pursue a third star or superstar. Pelinka has built this roster for a big trade. While Reaves is throwing his hat in the ring to be the team’s third star, the Lakers will be on a mission and know this could be their best chance to get another ring for LeBron.

If the Lakers start strong, stay healthy, and get winning play from their starters and rotation, major trading chips and key wild card projects, they can still have championship caliber depth after trading for a third star.

What Would Lakers’ Mega Trade Packages Look Like?

Here are three proposed Laker trades for a $40 million star or stars built upon a package of D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, Jalen Hood-Schifino, and Top-5 protected 2029 first round pick and 2030 first round pick swap.

There’s a consensus among analysts that the package the Lakers will likely be pushing as they approach the trade deadline will include D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, Jalen Hood-Schifino, and necessary draft capital. The Lakers’ problem is they won’t trade James, Davis, or Reaves, which means there’s simply no way to match salaries to trade for a pair of stars or a superstar making $40 million without including Russell and Hachimura.

Russell’s $17.3 million, Hachimura’s $15.7 million, and Hood-Schifino’s $3.7M give the the Lakers $36.7 million in valuable tradable salaries, enough to bring back a player or players making $40 million per year. Players whom the Lakers might pursue include Trae Young, Zach LaVine, Pascal Siakam, Kyrie Irving, Kristaps Porzingis, Karl-Anthony Towns, Brandon Ingram, DeMar DeRozan, Myles Turner, and Buddy Hield.

While Russell or Hachimura could play so well the Lakers could decide to keep one or both of them and settle for just minor tweaks or no changes to the roster, the Lakers have positioned themselves for a blockbuster trade. Rob Pelinka sees this as an opportunity not only to reinforce the roster to make a run to win another championship for LeBron but also possibly to make a big move to actually land the player or players to replace James.

The Lakers love the roster they have right now but understand that this season is an opportunity to win their 18th NBA championship as well as a chance to trade for third superstar to eventually replace LeBron James.

What Would Lakers’ Post-Trade Depth Charts Look Like?

Here is how the projected depth charts for the Lakers would look like after making the three blockbuster trades used above as examples of possible deadline trades by L.A. In each case, Lakers still end up with deep rosters.

Looking at the above depth charts, trading for a superstar like Trae Young or Zach LaVine or a pair of second-tier stars like Myles Turner and Buddy Hield would greatly upgrade the firepower of the Lakers’ starting lineup.
The Lakers would be trading two starters for two starters from the Pacers and two starters for one starter from the Hawks or Bulls, which then opens up an opportunities to play two bigs or start Cam Reddish at small forward.

What also jumps out from the above depth charts is how important the Lakers’ last two open roster spots could be, especially if they can land an impact player like Christian Woods for just the veteran’s minimum pay. Depth always looks better on paper but often falls prey to reality as players don’t live up to expectations or get injured. Because of so many wild cards, the Lakers ceiling is exceptionally high and their floor exceptionally low.

Because of the rule changes which prevent teams who are over the first tax threshold from signing any buyout candidates, the Lakers are likely to keep their 15th roster spot open for potential star quality buyout candidates. There’s definitely a possibility of an older veteran player getting released and becoming available in time to be eligible to participate in the playoffs. As a team that can sign buyouts, the Lakers will keep their 15th spot open.

The Lakers need to stay healthy and hope questions about almost every player on the roster get answered positively but a midseason trade for a superstar or pair of stars to this team could lead to their winning #18.

How Hayes And Reddish ‘Wild Cards’ Could Be Key to Trade

The Lakers’ odds of still having championship quality bench depth after trading multiple players for a third superstar or pair of second-tier stars could depend on how wild cards Jaxson Hayes and Cam Reddish play.

The Lakers hope signing Jaxson Hayes and Cam Reddish, the #8 and #10 picks in the 2019 NBA Draft, will yield the same lightning-in-a-bottle they got for trading for Rui Hachimura, the #9 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.
Until Hachimura broke out and finished the regular season strong and excelled in the playoffs for the Lakers, all three of the Top-10 2019 draftees were considered to be players who had underperformed their draft status.

But right now, Hayes, Reddish, and Hachimura are have realistic options to start for the Lakers: Hayes at the five with Davis in a two-bigs lineup or Reddish or Hachimura at the three with James and Davis and four and five. How the three perform in training camp and preseason could very well determine who starts for the Lakers. In a perfect world, Hachimura will continue to excel as a Laker while Hayes and Reddish have breakout years.

The NBA has always been a star and superstar driven league and the Lakers roster has four players who were top-10 first round picks in LeBron James (#1), Anthony Davis (#1), D’Angelo Russell (#2), and Rui Hachimura (#9).
The four players the Lakers were targeting via midseason trades were Trae Young (#5), Zach LaVine (#13), Myles Turner (#11), and Buddy Hield (#6), which would give the Lakers five or six players who were top-13 picks.

The Lakers need all three of their 2019 Top-10 draft picks to have career seasons so they can pull off a mega midseason trade for a third star or superstar and still have championship caliber depth left after the trade.

Austin ‘White Mamba’ Reaves Is Him: The Lakers’ Next Homegrown Hero

August 27, 2023 By LakerTom 8 Comments

Sometimes young stars are given nicknames so perfect they stick and the player and nickname become synonymous: Earvin Johnson and Magic, Kobe Bryant and the Black Mamba, Austin Reaves and the White Mamba.

Watching Austin Reaves taking over play every time he entered the game for Team USA reminded me of Kobe diving for a loose ball and setting the tone in the first game of the 2007 FIBA qualifying tournament in Las Vegas. That led to my epiphany that Austin Reaves deserves the White Mamba nickname because he’s the NBA player who best represents Kobe Bryant’s intense passion, obsession, relentlessness, resilience, and fearlessness.

Those are the five pillars supporting Mamba Mentality, which is Bryant’s personal philosophy on becoming the best version of oneself. Mamba Mentality is a basketball bible to players like Austin who idolized Kobe. Putting the principles of Mamba Mentality to work is obviously easier said than done, especially when you’re an unknown, undrafted, older white player who played four years and sat out one year of college basketball.

Austin Reaves’ entire approach to the game of basketball has been the result of his embracing of Mamba Mentality. You can see Kobe in the passion with which Austin plays and celebrates his team’s great plays. Reaves’ obsession to grow reminds one of Bryant’s push to get better. His relentlessness and fearlessness in attacking the paint as well as his dogged resilience when the road gets tougher just scream White Mamba!

That’s why Austin Reaves’ accomplishments in the first two years of his professional basketball career show why he deserves the honor of being called the White Mamba. He was inspired by Kobe to play like Kobe.

Why Austin Reaves is White Mamba

Austin Reaves dodged specifically answering when asked by reporters what he meant when he screamed “I’M HIM!” after his Game 1 playoff heroics against the Grizzlies but those who know him know he meant Kobe Bryant.

Reaves grew up in a small Arkansas town as a diehard Kobe Bryant fan. Through his young career, Austin has had numerous nicknames, including Hillbilly Kobe and AR-15, neither of which truly reflected Reaves’ game. White Mamba, on the other hand, is the one nickname that truly captures what Austin Reaves’ game is all about and why he is the best model for a player who lives and believes in Mamba Mentality in the NBA today.

Casual Lakers and NBA fans still view Austin Reaves through their Alex Caruso white-player lenses. While there are some obvious similarities, Austin Reaves and Alex Caruso are two entirely different types of players. While both are smart, competitive, and team oriented players, Caruso is a defense first, pass first player who’s near his ceiling whereas Reaves is an offense first, shoot first player who’s ceiling is All-Star or even beyond.

While Austin Reaves doesn’t have the uber athleticism of a young Kobe Bryant, he plays with the same passion, obsessiveness, relentlessness, resilience, and fearlessness that made Kobe Bryant the Black Mamba.
What Reaves does have is an old school basketball intelligence fueled by Mamba Mentality intensity and versatility that lets him fit seamlessly into any lineup or role, on or off the ball, as a scorer, playmaker, or defender.

It’s near impossible to watch Austin Reaves play without experiencing an epiphany that he’s the one player in today’s NBA whom Kobe Bryant would be most proud of and honored to award the nickname of White Mamba.

Scalabrine’s Claim to White Mamba

No disrespect to Brian Scalabrine, but NBA players don’t give themselves nicknames. They earn them from admirers by their performances on the court. Brian Scalabrine is not Kobe Bryant, nor is he the White Mamba.

The White Mamba is a nickname that must be earned on the court by a player displaying the traits that made Kobe Bryant such a unique and beloved superstar. It’s not a nickname to be assumed by a role player.
What makes giving himself the White Mamba name so insulting is, other than being white, Scalabrine never achieve anything more than being a solid role player in his career. As Scal himself says, it was all just a joke.

“The story behind it is, you know Kobe had the shoes. You remember the commercial where jumped over the car, and him and Ronnie Turiaf, right. So, I loved those shoes, I wore his shoes all the time anyways. You have Nike ID, you could make those online so I made one, they had the snake skin. I made it white, I put red bottoms on’em. And then I slapped them down on the table in front of Stacy King, and I said White Mamba 1.0’s.”

Frankly, Hillbilly Kobe and AR-15 were embarrassing nicknames for a player who’s future looks unlimited right now. As fans get to know more about young Austin Reaves, his love and connection to Kobe Bryant will emerge. More and more, I expect Lakers fans to have the same epiphany I did and start calling Austin Reaves by the nickname he deserves. Nobody in the league better deserves to be called the White Mamba than Austin Reaves.

It’s time for Brian Scalabrine to renounce the White Mamba nickname he kiddingly gave himself so Austin Reaves will be able to embrace the honor of assuming the White Mamba nickname for playing the game like Kobe.