The Los Angeles Lakers have found their stride in the Las Vegas Summer League, winning their first two games so far.
Max Christie has looked dominant in his second year, while Jalen Hood-Schifino and Maxwell Lewis are showing real flashes as the games go on. While those three guards are attracting all the attention, D’Moi Hodge is quietly making a name for himself as well. In their latest win against the Charlotte Hornets, Hodge scored 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting to go along with five rebounds, two assists, one steal and two blocks.
Hodge’s two-way play has been encouraging and fans will appreciate who he said he models his game after.
“I really like KCP,” Hodge said. “I met him like two days ago and it was really nice meeting him in person, he actually knew who I was so it was just great to meet somebody like that. I met him outside, I was walking, and he was on IG and he pulled up a picture of me and him and he was like ’this is you?’ And I was like ‘yeah.’ He was like ‘I’ve been doing my research’ and he was giving me some advice and stuff so that was really cool.”
The undrafted guard has the 3-and-D skillset that every NBA team craves and explained that was a large factor in his decision to sign with the Lakers. “That’s a big reason I signed with the Lakers. I know they like shooters. Having LeBron and DLo and AD getting so much attention, they want shooters they can kick out to. So I feel like me being the shooter I am and playing defense, if you can play defense you stay on the floor… So that’s my main mentality, I know I can knock down shots, but that’s been my focus on the game, not about making shots, but I want to get deflections, get steals and have energy on the defensive side because defense leads to offense so that’s my main mentality in the games and stuff like that.”
Hodge is incredibly active on the floor and has a knack of knowing where to be at the right times. Just like Caldwell-Pope, Hodge is able to make plays when the team needs them and that should serve him well as he tries to stick with the organization.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was hurt after Lakers traded him
Caldwell-Pope was shipped out of Los Angeles in the blockbuster deal that brought back Russell Westbrook, a massive failure in retrospect. Caldwell-Pope spent a good amount of time with the Lakers and later admitted he was a little hurt after they traded him.
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