1. Malik Monk
There might not be a single player that can replicate what LeBron James does for the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA, let alone on the Lakers roster. It will be a team effort replacing his production for however many games he misses, but players can step into different roles.
For Malik Monk, he could be tasked with helping pick up the slack when it comes to scoring. He had a bigger role earlier in the season and showed that he is capable of scoring points in bunches.
He had 12 and 17 points in the Lakers’ first two wins of the season and the team will need more of that for at least the next week. Monk hasn’t had many opportunities to score in recent games, but that will change with 20.3 shots per game available with James sidelined.
Monk has struggled to find his shooting stroke in the early going, making 36.5 percent of his shots overall and 31.3 percent from the 3-point line. Los Angeles needs him to improve those numbers as he could be a key cog in the team’s second unit going forward.
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This is a chance for Monk to cement himself as a permanent fixture in the rotation even when everyone gets healthy. If he doesn’t make the most of this one, he could find himself racking up DNP’s once Frank Vogel has his whole allotment of rotation players available.
