When the Los Angeles Lakers pulled their blockbuster trade with the Orlando Magic, most of the times the only name mentioned was Dwight Howard. Although Howard was by far the biggest the name in the deal, the deal consisted of several other players. The Lakers acquired two other players in the trade, Earl Clark and Chris Duhon.
Duhon has been a backup point guard throughout his NBA career and he will likely have the same role with the Lakers this upcoming season. Duhon told the Los Angeles Times that he wants to find some minutes for the Lakers in 2012-13 and make an impact on this franchise that is looking at nothing short of a championship.
“I want to play,” Duhon said in a phone interview with The Times. “My approach is to go in there and show I can play and produce. However it works out, come start of the season, I want to be in the rotation.”
Duhon averaged 3.8 points and 2.4 assists in 19.5 minutes a game last season with the Magic, clearly not eye-popping statistics. Still, the Lakers do not need Duhon to put up amazing numbers, as long as he runs the team’s offense well.
Duhon will provide starting point guard Steve Nash with valuable resting time and preserving Nash’s energy will work wonders for the Lakers in the playoffs. However, Duhon will also have to play behind Steve Blake, the second-string point guard for this team. So although Duhon is very interested in playing for the Lakers, his time on the court may be limited.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
In case you missed it – Steve Nash talks about joining the Lakers and working towards his first championship.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
[lakersnation_player file=”http://youtu.be/TniRVX0Vas8″ autostart=”false”]
