With the signing of LeBron James, the Los Angeles Lakers have immediately moved from a young, upstart team to potential contender. However, after their other free-agent additions of Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson, JaVale McGee, and Michael Beasley, many are concerned about the Lakers three-point shooting.
The Lakers finished next to last in three-point percentage this past season, with no player above 40 percent. Josh Hart led the team at 39.6 percent while Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (38.3), Brandon Ingram (39.0), and Kyle Kuzma (36.6) were all above average.
But with teams like the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets at the top of shooting in NBA, barely being above average won’t cut it. Someone who isn’t worried about the team’s shooting is Beasley.
The Lakers’ forward spoke to Leo Sepkowitz of Bleacher Report and explained why he believes his new team will be just fine:
“I think if you look at everybody individually, in the past, in their respective roles, they weren’t asked to shoot threes. Like, Lance was playing with Paul George, and Rondo played with Ray Allen. LeBron can’t just sit out there and wait for somebody to make a play for him. I’m not saying we can all be 50 percent three-point shooters, but particularly if you look at my percentages, my three-point percentage is not bad at all. It’s actually pretty good. I think we’re all smart enough to play the game the right way.”
Beasley isn’t wrong about his own percentages. Last year with the Knicks he shot 39.5 percent from deep, and the previous season in Milwaukee he shot 41.9 percent. If there is one exception to the Lakers’ free agent additions not helping the shooting, Beasley is certainly it.
It’s also worth noting that James himself has shot over 36 percent from deep in each of the past two seasons. Additionally, his presence should open up plenty of great looks for the rest of the team which should also help improve percentages across the board.
It’s a sentiment Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka shared when previously addressing the same topic. And as Beasley put it, if the Lakers play the right way everything should work out just fine.
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