Anybody who’s been reading some of my previous posts on this blog as well as on my social media accounts (check the About Me page on Silence Is The Enemy’s homepage) know how big a fan I am of the Los Angeles Lakers. They have been my favorite basketball team from any league since I discovered the sport about 18 years ago. I am a proud member of Lakers Nation, and will root for the NBA’s glamour team team through thick and thin.
But being a die-hard follower of one team doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to enjoy watching players from other teams. There around 500 players across the Association, and limiting yourself to liking the 15 players (plus the two on Two-Way contracts) on your favorite team sort of cuts you out on most of the fun bits of basketball.
With the preseason over, and the 2018-2019 regular season about to start in a week, here is a list of my top five favorite non-Laker players that I’ll be supporting this year. (Obviously I like more than five players, but that’s for another post, around December, when the season is in full swing).
5. Luka Doncic (Dallas Mavericks) and Trae Young (Atlanta Hawks)
I’m sorry for starting this list by cheating and including two players. I just can’t leave out these two.
Luka first caught my attention earlier last season, when draft experts started calling him a potential first overall pick in the the 2018 NBA Draft (he fell to third because he allegedly did not want to play for the Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings, who have the first and second picks respectively). He’s a bit different from his rookie batchmates, having already played professionally for Real Madrid in the Spanish League. Doncic was also the 2018 EuroLeague MVP, making him the youngest player ever to win the award (at age 19).
Luka is an athletic versatile player who can play both guard positions, and will no doubt help the Mavericks in their bid for a playoff spot in what could be Mavs legend Dirk Nowitzki’s final season before calling it a career.
Trae Young on the other hand was unknown to me prior to March of 2018 when college basketball’s March Madness was in full effect (I don’t follow much college basketball in the first place). Trae was compared to Stephen Curry, which is an absurd comparison (because no one can be the “Next Steph”, that dude is bonkers on a different level) and unfair to young because it sets him up for failure due to the extremely high standards placed on him at this stage of his career.
Trae is a good scoring guard with very good shooting range (this is where the Steph comparisons are based on), and whether or not these skills translate to the NBA level remains to be seen.
A player’s rookie year isn’t a tell-all indicator of what his career is going be like, (Kobe Bryant was a bench player for most of his first year with the Lakers), but it does give you an idea what the player’s strengths and weaknesses are and how to improve their game. It’s also fun watching kids, who a few months ago were in a classroom, transition into world-class millionaire athletes. And the highlights. Never neglect rookie highlights as they try to make a name of themselves.
4. Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics)
It is deemed sacrilegious for Lakers fans to root for anything and anyone involving our most-hated rivals the Boston Celtics. I just can’t help it, though. Tatum is so good at basketball. And he’s only 20 years old. Tatum already looked like a superstar-in-the-making in his rookie season last year averaging 13.9 points, 5 rebounds, 1.6 assists per game, with a 15.3 Player Efficiency Rating (PER), which is right around league average. Look for him to make a huge leap in his game during his sophomore year. That’s what happens when you spend your summer training with your childhood idol (who goes by the name Kobe Bryant).
3. Giannis Antetokounmpo (no I did not copy-paste that) (Milwaukee Bucks)
Man, it’s so hard to not like the Greek Freak. Giannis is your prototype modern basketball player — long (he can just take three dribbles from halfcourt to the ring, holy crap), athletic and versatile. He can basically play all five positions on-court (well, he does have to improve his outside shooting to be an effective two-guard), which makes the Greek Freak perfect for this new era of NBA basketball. Giannis is deadly on offense and scary on defense, and should be in the mix for the title of “Best NBA Player” once LeBron James decides to call it a career. The only knock on Antetokounmpo game is his aforementioned woes on outside shooting, but he seems to have improved in the few preseason games he’s played so far. Oh, and uh, he was one of the handful of NBA players who spent their summers training with the new Basketball Yoda, Kobe Bryant.
Okay, numbers one and two on this list is cheating, again, because they’re formerly part of the Lakers’ young core, but are now on different teams due to the unavoidable business aspect of the NBA.
2. Julius Randle (New Orleans Pelicans)
*insert crying face emoji* Julius Randle was one of my favorite players last year and was a vital part of the Lakers’ resurgence during the latter half of the season. His unique mix of strength and agility makes him the ideal big man in the modern NBA, being able to take on all kinds of players (Randle’s too quick for bigger guys, too damn strong for smaller guys) both on offense and defense.
Julius is an unfortunate casualty of Restricted Free Agency (read more of that, as well as the rest of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement on Larry Coon’s fantastic CBA FAQ here), which is why he was unable to re-sign with the Lakers once his Rookie Scale contract expired.
No doubt, I will root for Jules sooooo hard this season, and wish him success with the Pelicans. #CantHandleRandle
1. D’Angelo Russell (Brooklyn Nets)
My boi DLo! I was looking for players to fill the void in my heart caused by my idol, Kobe Bryant’s retirement in 2016. Russell looked to be that player as a showed a lot of promise as a scoring point guard with terrific court vision — skills that led to him being selected second overall in the 2015 Draft by the Lakers.
DLo was traded to the Brooklyn Nets in the summer of 2017, as sweetener to dump former Lakers center Timofey Mozgov’s toxic contract. I was very pissed at the time, and said very unkind things about the Lakers’ current front office (it was misguided anger, and should have been directed at the previous administration, the one responsible for the existence of the aforementioned toxic contract).
The trade worked out for the Lakers in the end, though. My new favorite kid Lonzo Ball was taken as the second overall pick in the 2017 Draft. Lonzo is basically like DLo on offense (minus the shooting) and is exponentially better on defense. The draft pick that came with the DLo trade became Kyle Kuzma, who was fantastic for Los Angeles in this rookie year, shattering the Lakers’ rookie record for most three pointers made (130)shattering the Lakers’ rookie record for most three pointers made (132). Kuzma was also named to the All-Rookie First Team.
Also, uhhh, thanks in part to the DLo trade, the Lakers landed this dude named LeBron James in free agency. He’s sort of good at this basketball thing. All’s well that ends well?
I don’t like to dabble in the what ifs much, but sometimes I wonder what it’d be like if DLo wasn’t traded. He’d be a perfect fit as Lonzo’s backcourt mate. But then again, we probably wouldn’t have landed LeBron. Or maybe we would have. See, what ifs are pointless.
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