Los Angeles Lakers: Ranking the team’s top 3 scoring threats in 2017-18

2. Brook Lopez, C

The addition of Brook Lopez this offseason was an underrated one for the Lakers, even if it’s unclear how long his stay in Los Angeles will last. My reasoning behind this is that Lopez brings some serious firepower on the offensive end.

It’s been some time since the Lakers had a dominant big man who can score points in bunches. Maybe Pau Gasol was the latest, but he hasn’t played for Los Angeles since 2014. Since his departure, the team has essentially been relying on inexperienced or unspectacular talents to fill the starting center role.

Having Lopez changes all of that. In case you weren’t aware, he was a dynamic offensive talent for the Brooklyn Nets a season ago. In 2016-17, he averaged 24.9 points per 36 minutes while shooting an effective field goal percentage of 53.1.

The truly impressive part was that he developed a 3-point game, connecting on 34.6 of his long range shots after making only three in his eight previous NBA seasons. For reference, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is the only veteran on this roster with a better 3-point percentage from a season ago.

Lopez may be slightly limited, especially on the defensive end. However, when it comes to scoring the basketball, he’s one of the better centers in the league. The Lakers will be very fortunate to have his point production throughout the 2017-18 campaign.