A report indicates that the Los Angeles Lakers are one of the teams that have kept tabs on Memphis Grizzlies reserve John Konchar.
“Reserve forward John Konchar is also a candidate to be dealt before the February trade deadline,” Michael Scotto wrote. “The [Boston] Celtics, [Golden State] Warriors, and Lakers are among the teams who’ve kept tabs on Konchar’s situation from afar, HoopsHype has learned.”
Konchar has played five seasons in the NBA, all with the Grizzlies franchise. He’s off to an unspectacular start to this season from a scoring standpoint though, seeing as how he’s averaging 3.0 points per game so far while shooting 34.9 percent from the field and 32.0 percent from behind the 3-point line.
Perhaps the Lakers’ reported interest in Konchar stems from the fact that the team doesn’t have a whole lot of depth on the wing right now due to injuries. Also, maybe the Lakers want another wing to limit the amount of minutes that LeBron James plays during the regular season as much as possible. After all, James is the oldest player in the NBA right now, as he is 38 years old and set to turn 39 next month.
But once Jarred Vanderbilt returns to the lineup, his presence should help shore up the Lakers’ depth at the forward spot. Vanderbilt has yet to take the court for the Lakers this season due to a heel injury but proved to be a valuable role player for the team a season ago.
While Konchar isn’t an excellent scorer, he does a lot of other things well on the court. He rebounds the ball at a high level, is a solid playmaker and serviceable defender, as evidenced by the fact that he averaged 1.1 steals per game off the Memphis bench last season.
The Lakers acquiring Konchar via trade prior to February’s trade deadline would make sense on paper, as the 27-year-old possesses skills that could help the Lakers. Maybe general manager Rob Pelinka can figure out a way to bring Konchar to the Lakers at some point during the next few months.
The Lakers’ next game on their regular-season schedule is a matchup against Cade Cunningham and the Detroit Pistons — who own the worst record in the entire NBA at 2-15 — on the road on Wednesday.
