Ex-Detroit Pistons guard Luke Kennard is on the move amid the best shooting season of his career, heading to the Los Angeles Lakers in a reported trade on Thursday.
The NBA trade deadline on Thursday is seeing teams like the Atlanta Hawks move some of their expiring contracts to teams in the playoff hunt like the Lakers.
Kennard fits the bill well as Atlanta will turn his one-year, $11 million deal into Gabe Vincent and a 2032 second-round pick from the Lakers.
The former No. 12 overall pick by the Pistons in 2017 is tracking for his first-ever season without a start, but he’s still been impactful in 40 games off the bench.
Kennard’s been a reliable three-point weapon since entering the league, but he’s now doing it at the highest level in his career.
Though he’s only averaging eight points in about 20 minutes per game, Kennard leads the NBA in three-point percentage at 49.7%, currently beating out his personal-best 49.4% from 2022-23. He’s second all-time in career three-point percentage for his career, only trailing Steve Kerr.
If he finishes atop the league, it will be the third time in his career to lead the NBA in three-point percentage.
None of those highlight seasons from beyond the arc came in his three seasons with the Pistons. Kennard started to grow his game over his first two seasons and finally hit his stride in 2019-20, averaging a career best 15.8 points and 4.1 assists.
However, the season was cut suspended due to COVID-19 and Kennard would be traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in November 2020. Kennard played 164 games for the Pistons, averaging 9.8 points and 2.2 assists per game on 40.2% three-point shooting.
Stints with the Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies, primarily as a bench player, preceded him [joining the Hawks during the offseason](https://www.mlive.com/pistons/2025/07/former-pistons-lottery-pick-signs-one-year-deal-with-hawks.html).
Kennard goes into a playoff-competitive team in Los Angeles with the 30-19 Lakers led by Luka Doncic. He figures to immediately get involved in the rotation for the 22nd ranked three-point shooting team in the NBA.