The Lakers didn't need Luka Dončić on Wednesday night. They barely needed Austin Reaves either. Jaden Hardy got nine minutes to make his case for himself and missed every field-goal attempt he took.
Dončić sat out the second night of a back-to-back with a back issue, missing the entire game rather than just a cold first half. Reaves started and logged a full 30 minutes, but his night split cleanly in half: 16 points and reasonable efficiency before the break, then nothing after it, a scoreless second half paired with a game-high eight turnovers. The two best players on this roster combined to be, at best, a non-factor for a full half of basketball. The Lakers won by 16 anyway, with a lead that swelled to 19 in the fourth quarter, and improved to 4-1 on the young season. It was also their second win over the Clippers in the past week, after a 125-117 result on October 23.
The bench and the fill-ins did the real work. Quentin Grimes started in Dončić's place and scored 23. Collin Sexton came off the bench for a season-high 21. Jake LaRavia finished with only two points but grabbed 10 rebounds, picked off three steals, and blocked two shots, which matters more than it sounds for a team that came into this stretch dead last in the league in rebounding. Jarred Vanderbilt, making his season debut after injury, played 21 minutes, grabbed seven rebounds, scored zero points, and posted a plus-22. He was the best player on the floor without scoring a point.
Rating
RatingThat line alone makes the case against Kevon Looney. Looney was a healthy scratch by coaching decision in this game, and Vanderbilt, giving up only an inch of height, brought more activity in 21 minutes than Looney has shown this season getting regular run. If the staff is choosing between the two based on size rather than what actually happens on the floor, that's bad process.
Then there's Hardy, who went 0-for-6 from the field, including 0-for-5 from three, and finished with two points from the line in nine minutes. He's barely played this season, appearing in one game before this one for a handful of minutes, and he's spent the entire offseason as trade chatter, with reporting out of Lakers circles bluntly describing him as not a serious rotation player. The organization has known about this pattern for months and keeps declining to act on it.
RTGThe pushback is that one blowout against a team missing its own rotation doesn't prove much, and that the offense is just finding its footing in a jumbled lineup. Integration matters. But integration and carrying a non-shooter who can't defend his position well enough to make up for it are two different conversations, and this staff keeps having only the first one.
The Lakers' depth looked real on Wednesday. Hardy's spot in the rotation looks like exactly what the rumors have said it is: a problem the front office has been too comfortable ignoring. Another 0-for-6 night just adds to the pile.
