Drew Timme drops an “adapt or die” truth bomb on the developing offense

LOS ANGELES – With five players sitting for Los Angeles Lakers during their 136-108 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night, it gave the Lakers’ young guys and players under contract two ways to play. Since signing with the Lakers in November, Drew Timme has already helped the team win games, and he continued to expand his attack since he’s been in the NBA.

Following the Lakers’ loss to the Spurs, Drew Thiem talked about how he really had no choice but to work on his offensive game if he wanted to stay in the NBA. He especially had to develop a consistent 3 point shot. He admitted that back in college, he didn’t always see himself as someone who would ever have a reliable shot from distance.

“The more the league has started to change, obviously it’s adapt or die. It’s Darwinism. If you wanted something and you want to get to this level, you have to do whatever the trend of the game is,” Thiem said. “And the trend was obviously more and more three-pointers. It was tough in college, obviously I worked on it. But it’s tough when you’re that good at scoring in the post … it’s tough when you’re trying to win, work on your game.”

During Timme’s first year at Gonzaga, he took just three attempts from 3-point range, something he joked that at least two of them were half shots. As his college career progressed, he gradually began shooting more from behind the arc. In each of his remaining three college basketball seasons, he did not make fewer than 20 total attempts.

During his 2024-25 NBA rookie campaign with the Brooklyn Nets, Tim made 35 attempts from 3-point range, connecting on nine of them. He began this season with the South Bay Lakers of the G League after being waived by the Nets near the end of training camp. With South Bay, he really started to show that he could be a long-range threat.

Since signing a two-way contract with the Lakers, Tim has made 17 3-point attempts, connecting on 41.2 percent, the highest 3-point percentage of his career. For him, it came down to identifying what he needed to work on and attacking it in the offseason.

“I’m just taking time in the offseason to really work on it and get into it. I’m just playing a bunch of pickups and feeling uncomfortable,” Timme said. “There’s been a lot of tinkering and changing with this, but it’s in a good place right now. I just have to keep going.”