Luka Dončić’s revelation about Luke Kennard will be eye-opening

LOS ANGELES – It’s been two weeks Los Angeles Lakers have had Luke Kennard after the NBA trade deadline, but Thursday was his first practice with the team. After his acquisition, the Lakers’ schedule didn’t allow for practice time, and then the All-Star break popped up. But think about the games he has played for the team so far Luka Dončić a fan.

Luka Doncic has yet to play with Luke Kennard since he was sidelined with a hamstring injury suffered during the Lakers’ win against the Philadelphia 76ers on Feb. 5. just before Kennard’s debut. But having seen him on the court in subsequent games, and having now gone through practice, Doncic loves the confidence Kennard has whenever he unleashes a shot from downtown.

“He was great in practice today. He was great just finding himself,” Doncic said after the Lakers’ practice on Thursday. “He’s only played four games with us so obviously he’s not going to fit in right away, right away, obviously he needs time. But in practice, whenever he shoots a three, he always thinks it’s going to go in. It’s great to see.”

Kennard’s Lakers debut, a win against the Golden State Warriors on Feb. 7, saw him finish with 10 points, two rebounds, two assists and one steal in 26 minutes. He shot 4 of 7 overall, 2 of 4 from the 3-point line and most importantly, he closed the game as part of a crunch time lineup late in the fourth quarter.

Kennard has appeared in four games so far for the Lakers, including one start, with only about 24 minutes per game. He averaged 10.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists on 62.5 percent shooting from the field and 45.5 percent from the 3-point line. When compared to his 3-point percentage from earlier in the season with the Atlanta Hawks, Kennard leads the league at 49.4 percent.

For Lakers head coach JJ Redick, just being able to be with the team is good in terms of solving problems on the court, especially when the whole group is able to practice.

“I just think every day you’re with the group it’s more comfortable,” Redick said. “He did his PechaKucha this morning, he did a nice job. He had a great practice today. It was good to have both Luka and AR with us.”

Redick mentioned earlier in the season that he was using a Japanese storytelling presentation format PechaKucha to help with team bonding activitiesand Kennard finally got his chance.

With the All-Star break now in the works, the Lakers will continue their season at home against the LA Clippers on Friday.