Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick has a secret weapon in his back pocket when the playoffs arrive as Maxi Kleber is trending in the right direction towards returning this season.
According to Dan Woike of Los Angeles Times, Kleber is “due for another evaluation in early April” after he underwent foot surgery before he was included in the Luka Doncic–Anthony Davis blockbuster trade.
While it’s “going to be a challenge” to reintegrate Kleber so late in the season when he will be eventually cleared to return, Woike wrote the 6-foot-10, 240-pound Kleber “is a switchable defender who can play some center in small-ball lineups, making him the kind of weapon the Lakers would love to have in the playoffs.”
Kleber will give Redick another big option in his small-ball lineups aside from Dorian Finney-Smith, Rui Hachimura and Jarred Vanderbilt.
The 33-year-old veteran big man averaged 3.0 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 34 games this season for the Dallas Mavericks before he broke his right foot in January.
Kleber is a 35.4% 3-point shooter in his career.
The German forward is shooting only 25.4% from the 3-point line this season before his injury. The Lakers are hoping it’s just an aberration and not the start of his decline.
Kleber shot 34.8% from the 3-point line over the last two seasons and a career-high 41% during the 2020-21 season. His outside shot never dipped below 31.3% until this season.
LeBron Happy to Have Ex-Maverick Back
The other throw-in player in the Doncic-Davis swap was Markieff Morris, who was in disbelief when he first learned that he was traded.
“I got that call from the agent at 1 o’clock in the morning saying that I was traded, man,” Morris said on the “Twin$nWin$” podcast on Feb. 8. “When it first happened, I was in shock because obviously, I haven’t played in a couple of years. My first thought was, ‘Who the hell wants me? Who wants to trade for me?’”
Morris returned to the Lakers whom he helped win a championship in 2020 during the pandemic inside the bubble in Orlando. He was a key contributor off the bench during the Lakers championship run, averaging 5.9 points and 3.8 rebounds in 21 playoff games, including two spot starts.
However, the 35-year-old veteran is no longer valued as an on-court contributor as he was five seasons ago. He has only played three games since he rejoined the Lakers. But his veteran leadership in the locker room is still highly valued, according to LeBron James.
“I missed him,” James said about Morris, per LA Times. “…We’ve been in the foxhole together. We’ve been on the floor during big games together. And there’s someone whose opinion I value very much when I come off the floor. He’s watching it. He’s seeing it. I’m just happy to have him back. It’s great to see him.”
Rui Hachimura on Track To Return Next Week
Woike also added that Hachimura (left patellar tendinopathy) could be back as early as next week during their five-game homestand beginning on Sunday, March 16 against the Phoenix Suns.
The Japanese forward will miss his seventh game on Thursday against the Milwaukee Bucks and likely Friday against the Denver Nuggets but Woike reported the encouraging news that “Hachimura is back on the court doing work, a really positive sign” after he suffered a knee injury on their Feb. 27 win against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The 6-foot-8 Hachimura is averaging 13.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists while shooting 50.6% overall and 41% from the 3-point line.
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