Lakers News: LA Legend Improved Young Big Man's Game, Then Team Ditched Him

Talk up giving up way too early on an asset.

Before Ivica Zubac was racking up double-doubles as a tough Los Angeles Clippers team's starting center, he was a precocious young prospect for your Los Angeles Lakers.

Los Angeles selected the Croatian seven-footer with the No. 32 pick in the 2016 NBA draft, and the team made a point to use some special Lakers-exclusive resources to spruce up his game -- namely, the best center of all time, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who had previously served as an official assistant coach for LA from 2005-2011. 

As Zubac informed Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson of Bally Sports in a recent interview, Cap was brought in to help expand the young big man's offensive repertoire.

"I worked out with the Lakers with [longtime assistant coach-turned-special consultant] Bill Bertka, and he’s been with the Lakers for 50-60 years! He’s 90-something [95 as of this writing], so he’s worked out with Wilt [Chamberlain], Kareem, Shaq, you know?" Zubac told Robinson. "All those bigs. One day, he invited Kareem to a workout to show me a couple things, and that was fun. It was really something. I couldn’t believe it. It was my rookie year, and I couldn’t believe that was happening."

Robinson probed deeper, asking what exactly Zubac worked on with the 19-time All-Star.

"It was pretty much that we worked on the skyhook a lot. It was all about that hook shot! I learned a lot from him," Zubac explained. "I use that hook shot every game. I work on it every day. I’m trying to perfect it and have one of the best hooks in the league. And that one left-handed hook shot? I’m still working on that, but it’s all about that hook shot. I learned a lot, and in the workout, he shot a couple. It was so smooth, and it was crazy!"

When the Lakers shipped out Zubac to the Clippers at the 2018-19 trade deadline in exchange for floor-spacing veteran big man Mike Muscala (oops), he had been averaging 8.5 points on 58% shooting from the field, 4.9 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in just 15.6 minutes, mostly off the bench.

In 76 games this season (all starts), he averaged 10.8 points, 9.9 boards, and 1.3 blocks a night across 28.6 minutes per.

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