Patrick Beverley is the newest member of the Los Angeles Lakers, and he figures to play a major role for the team in the 2022-23 season.
Beverley is far from a typical guard, but he fills multiple needs for the Lakers, which is why they were willing to part with Talen Horton-Tucker and Stanley Johnson to acquire him.
FULL TRADE DETAILS:
Lakers receive:
Patrick BeverleyJazz receive:
Talen Horton-Tucker
Stanley JohnsonWow, wow, wow.
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) August 25, 2022
The 34-year-old Beverley is now set to play for his fourth NBA team.
While he’s surely going to do everything in his power to make his 2022-23 season a productive one, there are a few things in particular that the Lakers are probably hoping to get from him.
Here are three goals for Beverley in the upcoming campaign.
3. Leave A Mark From Beyond The Arc
It’s no secret that the Lakers desperately need outside shooting.
Last season, L.A. ranked 22nd in the NBA in terms of team 3-point percentage at 34.7 percent.
In a perfect world, LeBron James and Anthony Davis would be surrounded by shooters, which simply wasn’t the case in the 2021-22 campaign.
Some of that had to do with Russell Westbrook’s struggles from beyond the arc, as he knocked down just 29.8 percent of his shots from deep.
Beverley may very well end up taking Westbrook’s spot on the Lakers this season, and if that happens, 3-point shooting is going to be an area where the newcomer can bring significant change to the table.
Beverley is a career 37.8 percent shooter from 3-point range.
Last season, he shot just 34.3 percent from deep, but over a six-year span that started in the 2015-16 season and ended after the 2020-21 campaign, he shot 39.3 percent on 3-pointers.
So, while his 2021-22 campaign was somewhat underwhelming from a 3-point shooting perspective, there’s reason to believe that he’ll bounce back in that department this season.
2. Help The Lakers Establish A Defensive Identity
The Lakers’ defensive struggles weren’t talked about enough last season.
When all was said and done, L.A. was the eighth-worst team in the NBA in terms of defensive rating (112.8) and was tied as the third-worst team in the NBA in terms of points per game allowed (115.1).
The good news is that first-year head coach Darvin Ham is seemingly going to do everything in his power to make the Lakers a better defensive squad this season.
Darvin Ham is the kind of coach that loves to focus on defense.
We can't wait to see how he will transform the Lakers 💯 pic.twitter.com/ydzyqkPQvN
— LakeShow (@LakeShowCP) June 10, 2022
Having Beverley around will help, as the veteran is known best for his defensive impact.
He has earned All-Defensive honors three times in his career and should give the Lakers a major boost on that end of the floor.
On top of that, it seems likely that he’ll challenge his teammates and try to motivate them to play with defensive intensity.
Those are factors that should help L.A. take a step forward.
1. Help The Lakers Make The Playoffs
In 2013, Beverley helped the Houston Rockets make the playoffs for the first time since 2009.
In 2019, he helped the Los Angeles Clippers make the playoffs for the first time since 2017.
In 2022, he helped the Minnesota Timberwolves make the playoffs for the first time since 2018.
And this season, he’ll look to help the Lakers get there after the team failed to do so in the 2021-22 campaign.
Beverley has a knack for getting his teams to the postseason, which is good news for the Lakers.
It’s still too early to tell what L.A.’s roster will look like when the regular season arrives, but the hope is that the squad will gel better than it did last season.
Regardless, all signs point to the team being good enough to at least earn a playoff bid, and Beverley will certainly do everything he can to make that happen.
