Lakers Reportedly Had Inside Joke Around Team About Deep Bench Player

Should Los Angeles bring him back?

Jan 21, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Portland Trail Blazers center Ibou Badji (41) shoots / Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Despite the high expectations, the 2023-24 Los Angeles Lakers had a season marred by several key issues. The season was filled with many problems, including former head coach Darvin Ham, questionable decisions from the front office, underperformance by certain players, and a string of injuries. 

The Lakers could point to a ton of things that went wrong. While you can't just point to one thing, part of that disappointment was the Lakers' 2023 first-round draft pick, point guard Jalen Hood-Schifino. 

Hood-Schifino was underwhelming in his rookie year in Los Angeles. The 20-year-old barely looked like an NBA-caliber player, and when he did get some run, he didn't look great. On top of that, the team reportedly had a running joke about the rookie. According to The Athletic's Jovan Buha, the Lakers reportedly thought Hood-Schifino had some fun talking about his play style. Buha shared this in his podcast, "Buha's Block." 

"One kind of running joke internally was that he was just gunnin' when he was out there in blowout situations," Lakers insider Jovan Buha said of Hood-Schifino. "He was just looking to shoot, and I think sometimes kind of plays with blinders on, and he needs to address that."

Saying Hood-Schifino was disappointing is an understatement. In 21 games this past season, he averaged 1.6 points per game, 0.4 assists, 0.6 rebounds, and shot 22.2 percent from the field and 13.3 percent from behind the arc. 

The numbers aren't pretty and only sometimes tell the whole story, but in this case, it tells the whole story. The former Indiana Hoosier only played garbage minutes when he was out there, and it seemed like he did not belong. Hood-Schifino didn't seem confident in himself and struggled mightily off the ball. 

However, it was a different story in his 15 games in the G-League with the South Bay Lakers. He averaged 22.0 points per game on 47.3 percent field goal shooting percentage. Can he apply some of that to the Lakers in the summer league and beyond? That's the biggest question for the guard. 

The Lakers drafted Hood-Schifino, No. 17 overall, ahead of Jaime Jaquez Jr. (No. 18 by the Miami Heat), Brandin Podziemski (No. 19 by the Golden State Warriors), and Cam Whitmore (No. 20 by the Houston Rockets). These three players played vital roles for their team, which makes this pick, at least right now, such a whiff. 

Who knows how this pick will play out? It's too early to tell, but at the moment, it looks like a bust of a pick. The guard will have his work cut out for himself. 

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