Darvin Ham has come in preaching defense first as the way to turn this team around. Now he has his prophet to spread that message.
The Lakers are close to a trade for veteran point guard Patrick Beverley, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Beverley is a quality defensive point guard who has a reputation as an irritant for other teams, but also a leader who holds guys on his own team accountable. Last season in Minnesota he was seen as one of the lynchpins that turned the Timberwolves’ defense from one of the bottom five in the league to middle of the pack (he was traded to Utah in the Rudy Gobert deal). Ham is hoping he can have the same impact on the Lakers.
Beverley also averaged 9.2 points and 4.6 assists a game last season for the Timberwolves, shooting 34.3% from 3. He’s a positive offensive player who can work off the ball.
A few other initial thoughts on this trade.
• Having Beverley gives Ham a hardened, tough veteran point guard he can trust at the end of games. Ham has the authority to bench Russell Westbrook if he is not contributing on that end of the floor, Beverley gives Ham a solid other option to lean on.
• Beverley was a popular member of the Clippers in Los Angeles as that team built itself up, and he still carries a chip on his shoulder when he plays against that team. Lakers fans will love that.
• Remember Rob Pelinka and the Laker front office re-signed Talen Horton-Tucker over keeping Alex Caruso. This move is all but admitting that was a mistake.
• Horton-Tucker is a good roll of the dice for the rebuilding Jazz. The Lakers had clearly moved on from him — when Ham talked about rotations and the team this summer, Horton-Tucker’s name never came up — but part of that was fit in Los Angeles. THT needs the ball in his hands to create, the Lakers have LeBron James on the roster. Horton-Tucker never developed a solid outside shot, making it harder for him to work off the ball. Maybe with more development in the different system, the athletic wing out of Chicago (like Beverley) might evolve into a rotation player. But it comes back to his shot.
• Horton-Tucker is owed $21 million over the next two seasons, with the second of those years being a player option. It’s not too expensive a roll of the dice by the Jazz, and if it doesn’t work out they don’t lose much.
• This frees up even more cap space for the Lakers next offseason, should they wish to go big game…