Luke Kennard trade forces Lakers to confront offseason priority after loss to Suns
The Lakers’ deadline acquisition luke kennard is drawing fresh scrutiny after Los Angeles fell 113-110 to the Phoenix Suns, a game that highlighted the team’s perimeter issues and left questions about whether the trade solved the club’s outside shooting needs.
Luke Kennard’s shot volume dropped in key losses
The concern centers on how little the guard has shot since arriving. In the loss to Phoenix, Kennard played 21 minutes and took six shots but attempted just one three-point field goal; that limited long-range aggression showed up in the box score as Phoenix made 22 threes to Los Angeles’ 11. Kennard’s debut came earlier in a win over the Golden State Warriors, when he finished with 10 points in 26 minutes, shooting 2-of-4 from three while closing out the game in crunch time.
How the trade changed the roster
The Lakers acquired Kennard at the trade deadline in exchange for Gabe Vincent and their last remaining second-round draft pick, a move intended to bolster perimeter shooting. Instead, the team has seen Kennard operate more often inside the arc, raising immediate questions about the trade’s payoff after the 113-110 loss to Phoenix exposed Los Angeles’ perimeter defense and three-point shortage.
Recent games and practice glimpses
Kennard has appeared in four games for the Lakers, averaging roughly 24 minutes per game in that stretch and finishing his debut with 10 points, two rebounds and two assists. In a narrow 110-109 loss to Orlando, he played 15 minutes and scored nine points but did not attempt a three. Teammates and coaches have noted incremental positives: he held his first Lakers practice after the All-Star break and received praise from teammates for his confidence from beyond the arc during that session.
The Suns game underlined a broader team imbalance. Los Angeles shot 37. 9 percent from three in that matchup but trailed Phoenix badly in three-pointers made and attempts—50 attempts for the Suns to Los Angeles’ 29—forcing the Lakers into secondary offense when they needed spacing the most. The mismatch on attempts contributed directly to the 113-110 final score.
Beyond the numbers, the trade’s cost remains concrete: Gabe Vincent and the second-round pick are gone, and the club still faces an on-court gap between the role the pickup was expected to fill and how Kennard has been used in games. That gap surfaced both in the Suns loss and in earlier outings where Kennard’s minutes and shot profile fluctuated.
Coach and locker-room comments after practice have suggested integration will take time; teammates praised his confidence when shooting in drills. For now, though, game evidence is mixed—highlighted most clearly by the Suns matchup and the Orlando game where Kennard took no threes in 15 minutes—leaving the front office and coaching staff with a concrete offseason priority: address outside shooting and shot creation.
Los Angeles will return to the court at home against the LA Clippers on Friday, a game that gives Kennard and the Lakers an immediate chance to adjust rotations and shot distribution with the regular season resuming. That matchup is the next confirmed milestone on the schedule.
