marcus smart

From AAU games in Ohio to college gyms up and down the Atlantic Coast Conference to the NBA, Luke Kennard has always been met with the same warning.

“Shooter!”

LeBron James, however, knows better than to put Kennard in a box.

The Lakers superstar watched Kennard’s career grow since he was playing on James’ AAU team in Ohio, where, yes, Kennard shot the lights out, but he also displayed the same versatility that made him a fitting emergency point guard during the Lakers’ shorthanded late-season push.

“He’s just a ball player,” James said. “… People just kind of gave him the narrative of just being a shooter. But he does so many more things. He can handle the ball, he can rebound the ball, he can make plays. … And what we’re missing right now, we need it [from him]. We need it more and more than ever.”

Beyond being the league’s leading three-point shooter, Kennard has 31 assists in the last four games, stepping up his ball-handling responsibilities for the Lakers, who must finish the regular season Sunday against the Utah Jazz without Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. Kennard had three assists with 19 points in the Lakers’ 101-73 win over the Phoenix Suns on Friday that clinched home-court advantage in the first round.

The 29-year-old has averaged 2.3 assists per game in his NBA career and only 1.7 per game for the Lakers (52-29) since he joined in a midseason trade. But without Doncic and Reaves, the Lakers have relied on offense by committee. During the last four games, 77.3% of the Lakers’ made field goals have been assisted.

“Just being organized, controlling pace,” Kennard said of the team’s ability to share the ball in recent games. “Guys not overthinking too much, just playing within the flow of the game.”

Lakers guard Luke Kennard celebrates with LeBron James’ after James scored at Crypto.com Arena on Friday.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

Kennard’s poise was been paramount for the team during an emotional week. The eight-year veteran who has cycled through five teams and been traded midseason twice provides steadiness, Lakers coach JJ Redick said.

“He’s a professional,” Redick said. “He comes to work, he’s a great teammate. He does what the team asks him to do. … No matter what you sort of give him, he’ll embrace it.”

Kennard was, in fact, a point guard in high school, he said proudly. While at Franklin High, he passed James on Ohio’s all-time scoring list. He solidified his status as a prolific shooter at Duke. Redick is familiar with that particular fate, he said with a wry smile.

Redick approached Kennard after Doncic and Reaves were injured against Oklahoma City last Thursday to discuss the contingency plan of him taking on more ball-handling responsibilities. The Lakers had one day of practice in Dallas, and the team walked through several plays with Kennard at different positions. It was the only practice day the Lakers have had since the season-altering injuries. The rest of Kennard’s learning has been through conversations with coaches, film study and instinctual play on the court.

He responded with his first career triple-double in the first game in his new role: 15 points, 11 assists and 16 rebounds in the Lakers’ loss to the Mavericks.

But Kennard is notoriously difficult on himself. He lamented Tuesday — after he scored 10 points with nine assists but missed both of his three-point attempts in a loss to Oklahoma City — that he wishes he was shooting better recently. During the first four games in April, he was just three-for-13 (23.1%) from three. He is still leading the league in three-point shooting at 47.8% this season.

Despite playing with a split on his left index finger after suffering an injury in the Lakers’ win over Golden State on Thursday, the left-handed Kennard made his first three-pointer Friday, getting fouled on the play to earn a four-point opportunity. He finished two-for-four from three against the Suns and six-for-12 from the floor. It was the first time he’d made multiple threes in a game since March 30 against Washington.

“We all feel like every time he shoots the ball, it’s gonna go in,” Redick said. “Whether that’s a floater, a midi, or a three I think he’s got a great deal of confidence and a lot of that comes from his preparation and his work. I think the biggest thing for us is, with our current group, having those other ball handlers so we can give him breaks from being on ball all the time.”

Getting Marcus Smart back from injury Friday helped ease the ball-handling burden on Kennard. Smart had missed nine games because of a lingering right ankle injury. Smart had six points and seven assists in his first game since March 21.

The Lakers waived guard Kobe Bufkin on Friday to open a roster spot for the postseason, possibly to add a veteran guard to bolster backcourt while Doncic and Reaves are out. The Lakers have until Sunday’s regular-season finale to sign any player waived by his former team before March 1 to standard contract.

James, playing for the second consecutive night Tuesday, had 12 assists with 28 points and six rebounds. In three appearances since the injuries to Doncic and Reaves, James has averaged 28 points, 12 assists and 5.8 rebounds on 60% shooting from the field.

Fitting James, Doncic and Reaves together came with growing pains, but pairing James and Kennard has felt simple. These two of the most prolific scorers in high school basketball history in Ohio are cut from the same cloth.

“It’s just because it’s two cerebral basketball players,” James said. “That’s why it’s seamless. He’s smart as hell. I’m smart as hell at this game.”

INDIANAPOLIS — Even LeBron James couldn’t muster the energy. With a wide-open lane in the ending moments of the Lakers’ 137-130 win over the Indiana Pacers, James simply dumped off a pass to Jake LaRavia. The 24-year-old had hops to put the finishing touches on the Lakers’ successful six-game trip.

Tired and shorthanded, the Lakers punctuated their extended trip with a fifth win Wednesday. Luka Doncic effortlessly scored his league-leading 14th 40-point game of the season, 43 points and seven assists.

The NBA’s leading scorer appeared ready to settle for simply his 11th consecutive 30-point performance — which is tied for the longest streak of such games in the last 20 years — after the Lakers opened a 20-point lead entering the fourth quarter, but he returned to the game because Indiana, despite having the worst record in the NBA, was still pressuring with its starters. The Pacers (16-57) trailed by as many as 29 in the third quarter and trimmed the deficit to six with 27.9 seconds left.

“I think everybody was a little bit tired,” Doncic said. “It’s been a long trip, but we got the win in the end; that’s what matters.”

The wear and tear of an intense trip in which the first five games all came down to the final minutes didn’t faze Doncic. He nearly outscored the Pacers alone in the first quarter, putting up 21 while the Pacers trailed 45-28. He threw a lob to Maxi Kleber for a dunk in the third quarter then pumped both of his fists. Doncic nailed a step-back three from the top of the key, held his follow through and hopped backwards on one leg.

The Lakers (46-26) toyed with the struggling Pacers (16-56) for much of the night. Indiana’s Andrew Nesmith and Pascal Siakam fell over each other trying to contest a Euro-step layup by James, who then posed over them and pointed to the Pacers players. Nesmith and Siakam could only grimace at each other.

James finished with 23 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. Austin Reaves had 25 points and eight assists Jaxson Hayes dunked seven times as the center had his first double-double of the season with 21 points and 10 rebounds, both season highs.

While players typically would drag through the end of such a long trip, Hayes found home-cooked fuel. Hayes stayed with his parents in his hometown of Cincinnati on Monday night after the Lakers’ win in Detroit. He woke up to a full home-cooked breakfast from his mother, who stacked plates of pancakes, eggs and bacon in front of her son. He scoped out properties he’s hoping to buy in the summer and hung out with his dad all day. The family made the hour-and-a-half drive to Indianapolis and had dinner Tuesday night.

“Best way to end the trip for sure,” Hayes said with a blissful smile.

Lakers center Jaxson Hayes, who finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds, battles Pacers center Jay Huff for a rebound during the first half Wednesday.

(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)

Hayes brought the energy for the shorthanded Lakers, who were without Deandre Ayton (back soreness), Marcus Smart (right ankle contusion) and Rui Hachimura (right calf soreness). Smart and Hachimura remain day-to-day as they missed their second consecutive games while Ayton was ruled out immediately before the game. Even the reinforcements were shorthanded as rookie Adou Thiero missed the game because of left knee soreness.

Thiero, who has been back and forth between the NBA and the G League‘s South Bay Lakers, played 29 minutes in a G League game on Saturday and flew directly to Detroit for Monday’s game. He played two minutes against the Pistons, making his first appearance in a first half of a game since Dec. 7, but his knee didn’t feel good the following morning, Redick said. The team held the forward out for precautionary reasons, Redick said, as Thiero has struggled with injuries in both knees this season.

The Lakers relied on another part-time G League contributor to carry them through a sloppy fourth quarter. Bronny James had four points, two steals and one block in 13:22 off the bench. Lakers coach JJ Redick said the second-year guard’s pull-up free-throw line jumper with 3:55 to go “was big to kind of settle us.” It stopped a 6-0 run by the Pacers.

It was just the second game father and son have shared the court together this season. The elder James had the perfect shirt for the occasion. He walked out of the locker room wearing a gray T-shirt with a photo of him and his son on the front. Across James’ shoulders on the back read “The Chosen 1.” Across the bottom of the shirt, it read “The 1 who chose.”

“Felt like this was a game we really needed him,” Redick said of Bronny James. “It was a game that [we needed] his athleticism, his defense. … I think the biggest thing with him is he’s got a lot of confidence right now.”

The Lakers have won 13 of their last 15 games to vault to third place in the competitive Western Conference. They have six of their last nine regular-season games at home and, after this grueling stretch, they can’t get there soon enough.

“Do we have to do this?” Redick said quietly as he sat down for his postgame news conference.

He knew everyone in the room wanted to get home.