Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Luke Kennard Is Making a Big Impact... Can He Be a Difference Maker in the Postseason?

Episode Date: March 2, 2026

When the Lakers acquired Luke Kennard at the trade deadline, most fans understood the team was getting one of the best shooters in the league, not just this year but throughout his career.  The good news for the team is Kennard's skill set is much more diverse than just shooting. He's been extremely effective from two point range, at the rim, and as a secondary playmaker and even a solid rebounder for his position.  It's also clear that JJ Redick highly values what Kennard does to raise the floor of the offense as both a floor spacer and a playmaker.  The flip side comes on defense, where Kennard is willing but deficient. He adds to a list of players that teams eagerly switch hunt Lakers in search of vulnerabilities, whether because they're smaller/slower (ex. Kennard, Austin Reaves) or a player like Luka Donćić where not only can he be beat off the dribble, but also where it's to their advantage to make him run around and try to press through screens.  So can he raise the team's floor in the playoffs, or will Kennard become a 180-degree version of Jarred Vanderbilt, played off the floor because of his D?  And what does Kennard's performance mean for next year, when the Lakers will look to construct a roster that fits around Luka?    HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky    Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub   Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! TurboTax This year you’re getting a major upgrade — Intuit TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. Visit http://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today. Betterhelp This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. BetterHelp makes it easy to get matched online with a qualified therapist.  Sign up and get 10% off at http://BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDONNBA.    5-Hour ENERGY Have your cake & drink it too. Birthday cake-flavor is back, no fork needed. Vanilla-y cakey flavor, caffeinated kick, and no sugar. It's party time. Order Now at 5-hourENERGY.com or Amazon. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply. FanDuel FanDuel is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with a College Basketball Parlay Profit Boost.Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game.   FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Luke Kinnard making a big impact for the Lakers offensively. Is he the piece the Lakers need around Luca Dantritch? That's next. You are Locked-on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks to everybody for making Locked on Lakers first listen to every day. Monday through Friday, sometimes on weekends, even on holidays,

and now more than once a day, no matter how where you get your podcasts, whether it's Spotify, Apple, maybe you're one of the 37,000. Plus subscribers to the Locked Lakers YouTube channel, no matter how you're doing it, you're part of making the Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network, anywhere you're going to find. Brian Komenetsky, Andy Komenetsky,

longtime covering the Lakers, nearly 20 years with ESPN, with the L.A. Times, with the Athletic. And the Lakers this season, Andy, have been searching for pieces that seem to make sense around Luca. It is a roster that was built for, and still really built for an AD LeBron core.

They sort of kind of try to reconfigure it a little bit this summer, but without much opportunity or success. So with that, the Lakers have been kind of searching all season long for guys that you can say like, oh, this is what a Luca Donchage offense needs. And at the trade deadline, trading the expiring the expiring contract, of Gabe Vincent for another expiring contract with the idea, I'm sure, of clearing the books in the offseason. They acquired Luke Kinnard from the Hawks, and I think it is fair to say, Andy, that Kinnard has felt like a major upgrade to what the Lakers are doing offensively.

Yeah, off the bench, Luke Kinnard averaging a little over 10 points per game, almost 61% from the field. We can talk about it. He's been doing some good work inside the arc as opposed to purely from three where Luke Kinnard is known, but make no mistake.

He's actually shooting the ball very well from behind the arc, 48%. The rare Laker that didn't forget how to shoot when he put on the uniform. That that that that that that that that that that that shut the F up. There are still games to be played. Like, mark this day, if Luke Kanoff,

forgets how to shoot. This is Brian Kamenetsky's fault, not Andy Kamenetsky's fault. Don't tempt the basketball gods who apparently hate Lakers shooters. Like, they clearly love the Lakers. Let's be honest. They've had a lot of success. But I guess the way they try to take it that far. The basketball gods try to avoid showing too much favoritism is you get a lot of championships.

Other than like Glenn Rice, you get. no shooters. Yeah, that's take that. No three point contest winners for you. Or when you get a guy who can make a three, it's Vlad Rodmanovich. You've got to deal with all the others. But yeah, you know, I think the point you're making, though, is really important in that Kennard's impact has been, you know, he, he's obviously a player with tremendous gravity.

He's got becoming, I think, a chance to become one of it six players who shoot better than 50% for the year if he keeps it up over the course of the season. But he recognizes that and very confident putting the ball on the floor, driving to the hoop, you know, making that pass over the top of the defense to the opposite corner, all of that stuff. Karnard is very comfortable doing it. And I think that versatility in his offensive game, other than breaking guys down off the dribble,

which there was a moment where he kind of needed to do that on Sunday against the Kings. And you're like, oh, okay, well, Luke doesn't really do that. Other than that, he kind of fills every other function you need offense. Well, I mean, this is a major difference between him and Gabe Vincent. Like, putting aside the fact that Luke Kennard is a much better, more established shooter than Gabe Vincent from deep, period. Ever.

Right. Ever. Right. I mean, this Luke Kinnard has been one of the elite outside shooters,

but Gabe Vincent was allergic to putting up shots, you know, inside, just barely inside the arc, like he never met a layup that he didn't want to pass up.

He actually carried an epipen for situations like that, just in case he did take one. Right. And the difference between Conard and Vincent, just in terms of opportunities that come when

you give Conard the ball. Like he is more of a threat when he actually puts the ball on the floor than Gabe was because he may, while I wouldn't call either one of them a high-end playmaker or a ball mover, Conard can certainly move the ball. But more importantly, he is at least a threat to put up a shot at the elbows or to take it all the way to the rim and actually look to score as opposed to Gabe. who the minute he put the ball on the floor to ever venture inside the arc, he was only a threat to give up the ball.

And that just makes a major, major difference. Not only does he move very well off the ball, which is a skill that the Lakers really badly needed, somebody who really runs well, moves, well, puts himself in different spots. He is in many ways what the Lakers hoped Dalton Connect would be. a more athletic version in a lot of ways of Luke Canard. But, you know,

Kinnard adds that movement factor. He obviously can catch and shoot. There's no setup where he can't shoot the ball. But I think he's just quicker than defenses think. His decision making is so fast and he processes so quickly that you just watch people defend him, especially when he puts the ball on the floor. And it's like, they always seem surprised that he's moving that quick.

Maybe it's because he looks like the assistant principal at your kids middle school. But he's also like a little better of a rebounder than you expect. Like his rebound rate is, it's higher than LeBron's, you know, defensive rebound rate. And like, this just in Brian says Luke and R is a better rebounder. Better rebounder than LeBron, better rebounder than Luca. Yes. No, I'm not saying that. But you would expect it to be like two.

You wouldn't expect it to be better than, you know, significant players on the team. Again, because he's Luke Knart. His assist rate is, you know, right up there with, you know, guys like Austin. He had eight combined assists over the weekend against the Warriors and the Kings. Again, caveat of playing against depleted teams or whatever. But it does reflect a confidence to move. the ball and then also to make the right decisions with it. Right.

And so like, no, the results have not been perfect. He does get, you know, better teams when the Lakers have played them, have picked on him defensively. That is going to be a problem.

As we talk about, like, what he might be able to do going forward and in the playoffs, which we'll do in a minute here. In a, sort of in a vacuum, when you design, when you start to think about,

like, what kinds of things did the Lakers need? I would like to think that management knew they were getting all of this stuff, even if maybe fans just thought they were getting a spot-up shooter, which, by the way, is something the Lakers badly needed. So very good move for the Lakers. After the break, let's talk a little bit about what he could do for them going forward. He has built out a larger role as his 10 games in L.A. have gone on.

JJ Reddick clearly likes having him on the floor. What happens to the playoffs, Andy? What happens next year? Is he somebody the Lakers might want to keep around? We'll get to all of it next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Better Help. And March is a time to celebrate women, especially around International Women's Day.

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more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. And listeners to this show, you get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job, the premium status it deserves, at Indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now, support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed sponsored job. Just to kind of reinforce how impactful and high quality he's been since arriving in the 10 games that he's played, his effective field goal percentage is the highest, if I'm reading this right, among any player in the rotation. As true, shooting percentage is the same.

Also the highest of anybody in the rotation. It's not just the basically 50% shooting from 3, 49% on catch and shoots, 50 from pull-ups. He's also shooting inside the arc, 50, almost 60% from inside 10 feet. Two point field goal percentage is 62 and a half. So like, it doesn't matter where Conard is shooting. Good things are happening when he is part, you know, when he's when he's doing that part of the offense. What, like how is, it is really helpful to have him on the floor. I think that is, is clear.

it is especially in the playoffs as teams start to make it harder to get clean looks and stuff like that. His movement, his accuracy, his ability to shoot from anywhere will make a difference. The problem is going to be how do you, particularly in a super switchy defense, avoid the problem of him getting kind of really picked on when you already have AR who can, you know, draw switches and teams try to get Luca into switches. not even because Luca, by the way, is that bad in those situations, but it makes him work way harder and drains some of his capacity to go back on the other end.

How effective do you think Kinnard can be knowing his weaknesses as we get into crunch time and certainly into the first round of the playoffs? I mean, I think if he's hitting shots at worst, what ends up happening is you just keep things at neutral. and sometimes that's what you need during bench periods where you're only playing one of LeBron or one of Luca or one of Austin or maybe just a couple of them and some other lesser scorers. You just have an option out there to, if nothing else, hold serve. If there are floor combinations out there where he can have some support, whether in the form of Marcus or the right setup for LeBron where the defensive,

where the defensive matchup works well for him or, you know, Jackson serving as a backline or, you know, maybe Maxie. Like it's, it's Jake, you know, Jake's offense has been slumping a lot, but if nothing else, Jake is a big body. He can be active defensive. We're talking specifically. Yeah, I'm not. I think you can keep on the floor in, you know, those reserves to try.

I'm really interested to find because, like, it's not hard to visualize situations where JJ wants him on the floor late, wants him on the floor with some of those other guys, like trying to take advantage of that skill set. Like obviously you're probably potentially going small in those situations. But I am guessing for the most part, Rui would have dibs as part of those lineups just because he is switchier, if nothing else against a wider variety of matchups than Luke. like you start you start getting pretty small if you're i mean even oh yeah small ball look if you're

talking about because marcus would almost certainly be out there as part of the closing group jj has said like there are three players who are going to always be closing um so those three marcus is presumably out there as well that's a pretty small group um you know i think also jake is probably ahead of him right now in the pecking order as a closer um you know how long that lasts who knows knows, but it's just, yeah, you know what? You're saying what I'm getting at, though. Like, how can you, like, does his role, he played 26 minutes, for example, on, on Sunday, you know, and you can find 26 minutes, you know, and I'm just looking up as game log here as we talk. And, like, you know, he played 27 against the Warriors 21, 15, 22.

So, you know, he's been sort of started in that low 20s, got under 20s. got under 20, now he's kind of back up into the 26, 27. Like, that's sort of the sweet spot. I just wonder if there will be a time when, you know, what that would look like if you try to use him later in games. We'll see. The other question that I think is really interesting, though, is what this does next year.

Like if Knaar has become somebody that you might consider, you know, allowing his cap hold, for example, to eat into your available space or something like that in an effort to try to figure out how to bring him back. Because the fit, especially when LeBron is gone and you need even that little more ball handling and the shooting and all that stuff, the fit is obviously quite good. I said from the beginning when they brought in Luke Knard that while he's obviously an expiring contract and that's something that the Lakers were focusing on with the trade. deadline and you know if they were going to bring on somebody where you took on money it would have to be i think a pretty high impact you know all-star adjacent or better type player or like an elite three and d wing you know like an ogen a nobi type player otherwise i don't think they were going to take on any uh long-term money but that being said i've always thought from the beginning that

canard could be an option to resign assuming he fit in assuming he played well because if you want to cash in on all of Luca's offensive skill sets, you need shooters. You need great shooters. And a shooter who can then take the ball, put it on the floor and continue any of the offenses. It's an interesting sort of philosophically,

whether it's Kinnard or someone else. Like, let's, he makes 11 million this year, probably make about 11 million next year, whatever it might be. Maybe you can slide him into an exception. There are some ways to get creative about this. But the broad thing for me is you don't want to get so precious with your cap space that you start throwing useful things overboard

that you would like if what would you do with some of that leftover space with those exceptions you could go out and sign luke cadart for 11 million dollars you'd be like okay that's a good signing that makes sense that's a good pickup um like you're going to have to use some of that money to get players like that unless you're you know you really have it in on you know you some star that you need the cap space to trade into or a restricted free agent. You need the space to basically try to overpay, you know, get Peyton Watson away from Denver or Walker Kessler away from Utah. You don't want to cut off your nose despite your face. You're just in the interest of having the largest free cap space number that you can possibly come up with.

It just, he seems like such a natural fit in a 20-minute role on a Luca team. I wouldn't mind keeping him around. Let us know what you think about. Kinnard and his impact, whether you would like to use up maybe some of that cap space the Lakers have been holding on to so preciously in the offseason to keep him around. Locked on Lakers on YouTube.

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