LOS ANGELES — Lakers sixth-year wing Cam Reddish is making the transition that several NBA players before him have.
Going from “The Guy” in high school and college, and being a highly-featured offensive option early in their NBA career, to a player who has to star in the role that’s needed of them.
After a start to his career that featured inconsistency and being traded multiple times, it appears that Reddish is starting to find his footing.
Reddish, who made his second start of the season in Sunday’s home game against the Toronto Raptors, got inserted into the rotation last week because of his approach to the defensive end of the floor.
That same approach got him his first start in Friday’s home win over the Philadelphia 76ers – a game in which Reddish only attempted one shot in 28 minutes.
“Every team is different, every coach is different,” Reddish said after the team’s practice on Saturday. “I go out there and do what he tells me to do. In my past life, I was going out there doing what I wanted to do. And that doesn’t necessarily work all the time.
“So I just go out, be a star in my role and do what I can to help the team win, whether it’s one shot, five shots, 10 shots, whatever. Just try to go out there and impact the game.”
Reddish’s offensive role has diminished his last few seasons in the league, which included stops with the Portland Trail Blazers (2023) and New York Knicks (2022-23) after starting his career with the Atlanta Hawks (2019-22) after being the No. 10 pick in the 2019 draft.
Reddish, who’s in his second season with the Lakers, entered Sunday averaging 2.3 field goal attempts per game after averaging 4.9, 7.8, 8.3, 10.1 and 9.6 in his previous five seasons.
“I mean, I didn’t have much of an option,” Reddish said on adjusting his game. “I kept getting traded. You just learn throughout those years. It’s a learning experience. It’s a journey. Just learning every day.”
Reddish added: “I was getting the ball all the time growing up. So I didn’t know anything else, you know what I mean? But now I was forced to kind of learn and expand my game and it don’t happen overnight, but little by little, I feel like I’m getting better at it.”
Lakers coach JJ Redick, who played in the NBA for 15 seasons, understands the evolution had to go through.
“I can empathize with him for sure because, like a lot of NBA players, you’re the No. 1 option in high school, you’re the No. 1 option in college, and then you get to the NBA, you’re struggling to carve out a role, and you have to figure that out,” Redick said. “And it’s not something that is this very linear thing.
“You just kind of have to have a long-term view and really embrace the things required for that specific team to get on the floor. And for us, having a defensive presence guarding the primary matchup, primary scorer, those are the things that we need Cam to do. I told him early in preseason, I said, ‘look, we’re going to figure out the offensive part of it and where we can have you feel like you have a role there. But full stop for you to get on the floor, it has to be on the defensive end.’ And over the last week, he’s really embraced that.”
Related Articles
Lakers’ new ‘fluid’ starting lineup producing early results
Lakers beat 76ers in 1st look with new starting lineup
JJ Redick changes Lakers’ starting lineup, addresses viral moment from loss to Grizzlies
Lakers are holding themselves back with bad transition defense
Depleted Lakers fall to Grizzlies to finish 1-4 trip
LET IT FLY
Rookie wing Dalton Knecht, who came into the NBA known as a high-level shooter, has had a slow start from the beyond the arc, shooting just 27.8% on 3-pointers entering Sunday.
Those struggles haven’t altered Redick’s thinking of Knecht.
“To me, he’s gotten some really good looks, both organically and when we’ve run sets for him,” Redick said. “I am undeterred in my thinking that he is a tier-one, top-one percent shooter. I see it almost every day. Sometimes you go through stuff and…it was always hard for me early in the season if I initially didn’t get off to a good start shooting 3s. It became more than it was.
“I’m not speaking for him, but I think for shooters, it’s hard mentally when you get off to a slow start shooting the ball. It can kind of weigh on you. I’ve talked to him about it, he believes the next shot’s going in every single time. And so do I.”