Despite missing their entire starting front court and lacking size, the Lakers had a chance against the Nets on Monday. The tanking Nets left the door open, but poor nights from Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves undid all the strong work from the team’s role players.
And thus, the Lakers leave New York for the final time this season with a second-straight loss, and a particularly frustrating one at that.
In a new series we’ll be doing after games on the site, we’re going to take a look at some of the top comments from the recap to get readers' reactions to the loss and to allow another place to dive more into the game, win or loss.
It is surprising how Christian Koloko went from someone who was getting minutes back in late 2024 and was developing chemistry with the Lakers to a player who just doesn’t play at all now, and certainly not rotation minutes.
In a game like Monday, when the Lakers would be outsized and looking for contributions from somewhere, would Koloko not have been worth giving some minutes to? He was active, the first time since mid-February that was the case. Why not give him a shot?
In the Lakers defense to a degree, there was a point in the season where Koloko was racking up games and quickly closing in on the 50-game limit he can be active as a two-way player. But he now sits at 37 games, leaving him 13 more contests to be active in. And if you aren’t going to have him play against Brooklyn, then he’s probably just not playing the rest of the season.
An odd path for a player who showed some promise and skill earlier this season.
On that topic, there is simply no scenario where Cam Reddish helped that team last night or moving forward. We, as a franchise and a league, have moved on past him.
So, what do you guys think? Should Koloko have gotten some run? Is being undermanned an excuse or a reality? How much blame falls on Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves for this one? Let us know down below!
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at@JacobRude or on Bluesky at@jacobrude.bsky.social.