Early season awards for the Los Angeles Lakers

Sixth Man of the Early Season

Now onto the toughest category of the four; picking the top performer from one of the league’s strongest bench units. Kyle Kuzma could get this award later in the season, but he started almost half the games this season, which is why Jordan Clarkson gets the nod over Julius Randle, each of which is playing the best ball of their careers off the bench.

Clarkson is third on the Los Angeles Lakers in scoring at over 15.0 points per game, trailing Kuzma and Brandon Ingram by a single point despite playing around 10 fewer minutes per game. Clarkson is attempting roughly the same amount of shots this season in the decreased minutes load, but is connecting on 48.4 percent of his field goal attempts and shooting 37.4 percent from deep — both career highs.

What made this choice so difficult is how much each bench player is benefitting from playing with one another. With a floor-spacing 4 (Kuzma) and a rim-rolling 5 (Randle), Clarkson has the most space in his career to create for himself. He’s taking more shots with space between him and defenders, a main factor in his increased efficiency this season.

Clarkson leads the Lakers with a 28.1 usage percentage, which explains his high scoring numbers in only 22.5 minutes per game. He’s developing a scary pick-and-roll partnership with Randle, and would be in the Sixth Man of the Year race league-wide if the Lakers could somehow stay in the playoff picture. Clarkson gets the final nod as the Lakers’ Sixth Man of the Early Season.