What a March the Los Angeles Lakers had. They went on an incredible winning streak. Luka became an MVP candidate again. LeBron seemed to accept his role as the third option. Reaves looked like the perfect wingman.
Then April 2, 2026 happened. One day late, the Lakers were hit with a massive April Fools joke — yet no one was laughing.
Not only did the Lakers get embarrassed by OKC on Amazon Prime. They got handled. To make matters much worse, within 48 hours, fans learned that Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic were done for the regular season. The team’s two leading scorers, gone.
The Lakers need as much Game 6 Miami LeBron James now as they can get.
But more than that, they need other players to step up.
Enter Luke Kennard—the Lakers’ prized get in this year’s trade deadline.
Luke Who?
The Los Angeles Lakers acquired Luke Kennard via trade with the Atlanta Hawks for Gabe Vincent and a 2032 second-round pick. This wasn’t a super flashy move. On the surface, it was a quiet, forgettable deadline move.
However, it turned out to be a very shrewd move by the Lakers. Kennard replaced a streaky, and let’s be honest, slightly overrated shooter in Vincent for another shooter that’s having a career year.
Luke currently leads the league in three-point percentage at 47.7%. On top of that, he’s currently part of the ever-so-rare 50/40/90 club. That’s elite status. After arriving to the Lakers, in a six-game stretch, Luke Kennard averaged 11.8 points, 2.8 threes, and was an absolute flamethrower from beyond the arc, shooting a whopping 56.7%.
Luke and LeBron
It’s simple really. Luke is now going to be asked to be more than a spot up shooter. He becomes even more essential in Luka’s absence.
Postseason basketball is where the court seems to shrink for most. More sets are run. The game slows down. This greatly benefits Luke Kennard in ways the Lakers didn’t expect when they got Kennard to join LeBron.
Enter Kennard in the corner, the spot-up specialist, if you will. A whopping 62.1% of his shots come from deep.
In the Lakers’ first game since Reaves and Doncic’s injuries, Kennard showed he can create for others, dropping his first career triple double against the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday night.
Playoff Luke Kennard
Two weeks ago, the Lakers were 20/1 title contenders. Obviously, that’s not the case anymore.
Is this a full-on collapse? Maybe. However, there’s a glimmer of hope. A quieter story if you will. A deal that only cost an expiring contract and a second-round pick way down the line that has already proven to be impactful.
Luke Kennard will be asked to play a much different role. The Lakers don’t need him to replace Luka. They don’t even need him to replace Reaves. What they do need, though, is more than a consistent, reliable shooter. They need his playmaking ability that can complement LeBron James perfectly. They need someone that can lighten the workload of a 41-year-old four-time MVP.
Luke Kennard can do that. We’ve seen him do that. Whether it’s the triple-double he produced against the Dallas Mavericks. Whether it’s the lights out shooting where he leads the lead in three-point percentage. He’s capable. Furthermore, we need him to believe he’s capable.
If this works, we’ll be telling ourselves that the move that saved the Lakers season hinged on the emergence of Luke Kennard, and it happened in February. And no one knew it. Until now.
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