2017–18 Los Angeles Lakers season
NBA professional basketball team season
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The 2017–18 Los Angeles Lakers season was the franchise's 70th season, its 69th season in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and its 58th in Los Angeles.
| 2017–18 Los Angeles Lakers season | |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Luke Walton |
| General manager | Rob Pelinka |
| Owners | Jerry Buss family trust (primary owner being Jeanie Buss as of March 27, 2017) |
| Arena | Staples Center |
| Results | |
| Record | 35–47 (.427) |
| Place | Division: 3rd (Pacific) Conference: 11th (Western) |
| Playoff finish | Did not qualify |
Stats at Basketball Reference | |
| Local media | |
| Television | Spectrum SportsNet and Spectrum Deportes |
| Radio | 710 ESPN (English) 1020 Radio AM (Spanish) |
On December 18, 2017, against the Golden State Warriors, the Lakers retired the numbers 8 and 24 of former shooting guard Kobe Bryant, making him the first NBA player to have two numbers retired on the same team.
Draft
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | Nationality | College |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Lonzo Ball | PG |  United States |
UCLA |
| 1 | 28 | Tony Bradley | PF/C | United States |
North Carolina |
Originally, the Lakers were at risk of losing their own first-round pick this year to the Philadelphia 76ers due to the stipulations of a previous trade involving Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns and having less than 50% odds of keeping the pick despite having the third-worst record that season. However, they not only kept the pick, but also moved up a spot in the process. The Lakers will ultimately lose their first-round pick for the 2018 NBA draft, regardless of whether it goes to the 76ers or the Boston Celtics later on, but they will at least keep their first-round pick for the 2019 NBA draft as opposed to giving it to the Orlando Magic as a result of their Dwight Howard trade around the same period. Their original second first-round pick at #28, however, came from the Houston Rockets as an incentive to trade away Lou Williams in exchange for Corey Brewer. On June 20, two days before the draft began, the Lakers would acquire a new first-round pick by getting the worst of the Brooklyn Nets' first-round picks at #27 alongside their star center Brook Lopez in a trade in exchange for star combo guard D'Angelo Russell and Russian center Timofey Mozgov. On draft night, though, the Lakers acquired two more picks in the draft by trading their weakest first-round pick (which became power forward/center Tony Bradley from the most recent NCAA Champions in University of North Carolina) to the Utah Jazz for Picks #30 & 42 in this year's draft.
With the 2nd pick of the draft, the Lakers selected their hometown star Lonzo Ball, who played point guard during his sole season at UCLA. During that time there, Ball averaged a league-leading 7.6 assists to go with 14.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.8 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game in 36 total games there. He also earned the Wayman Tisdale Award, the Pac-12 Freshman of The Year Award, First Team All-Pac-12 Honors, and consensus First-Team All-American Honors in the process. Next up, with the pick they acquired from the Brooklyn Nets, the Lakers took power forward Kyle Kuzma from the University of Utah. In Kuzma's final year at Utah, he joined Ball in being a member of the All-Pac-12 First Team by averaging 16.4 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 2.4 assists as a junior. With their last pick in the first round of the draft, the Lakers selected senior shooting guard Josh Hart from Villanova University. Throughout his time there (which included an NCAA Championship in his junior season), Hart averaged 13.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game at Villanova while earning plenty of awards in each of his last three seasons there. The Lakers ended their draft night by taking sophomore power forward/center Thomas Bryant from Indiana University. In his time at Indiana, Bryant averaged 12.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.2 blocks, and nearly an assist per game throughout his college career. He made the Big 10 Conference's Freshman Team and the All-Big 10 Third Team Honors in his first season there.
Roster
| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Head coach
Assistant(s)
Legend
Roster |
Standings
Division
| Pacific Division | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Div | GP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| y – Golden State Warriors | 58 | 24 | .707 | – | 29–12 | 29–12 | 13–3 | 82 |
| Los Angeles Clippers | 42 | 40 | .512 | 16.0 | 22–19 | 20–21 | 12–4 | 82 |
| Los Angeles Lakers | 35 | 47 | .427 | 23.0 | 20–21 | 15–26 | 6–10 | 82 |
| Sacramento Kings | 27 | 55 | .329 | 31.0 | 14–27 | 13–28 | 5–11 | 82 |
| Phoenix Suns | 21 | 61 | .256 | 37.0 | 10–31 | 11–30 | 4–12 | 82 |
Conference
| Western Conference | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Team | W | L | PCT | GB | GP |
| 1 | z – Houston Rockets * | 65 | 17 | .793 | – | 82 |
| 2 | y – Golden State Warriors * | 58 | 24 | .707 | 7.0 | 82 |
| 3 | y – Portland Trail Blazers * | 49 | 33 | .598 | 16.0 | 82 |
| 4 | x – Oklahoma City Thunder | 48 | 34 | .585 | 17.0 | 82 |
| 5 | x – Utah Jazz | 48 | 34 | .585 | 17.0 | 82 |
| 6 | x – New Orleans Pelicans | 48 | 34 | .585 | 17.0 | 82 |
| 7 | x – San Antonio Spurs | 47 | 35 | .573 | 18.0 | 82 |
| 8 | x – Minnesota Timberwolves | 47 | 35 | .573 | 18.0 | 82 |
| 9 | Denver Nuggets | 46 | 36 | .561 | 19.0 | 82 |
| 10 | Los Angeles Clippers | 42 | 40 | .512 | 23.0 | 82 |
| 11 | Los Angeles Lakers | 35 | 47 | .427 | 30.0 | 82 |
| 12 | Sacramento Kings | 27 | 55 | .329 | 38.0 | 82 |
| 13 | Dallas Mavericks | 24 | 58 | .293 | 41.0 | 82 |
| 14 | Memphis Grizzlies | 22 | 60 | .268 | 43.0 | 82 |
| 15 | Phoenix Suns | 21 | 61 | .256 | 44.0 | 82 |
Game log
Preseason
| 2017 pre-season game log Total: 2–4 (Home: 1–2; Road: 1–2) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Pre-season: 2–4 (home: 1–2; road: 1–2)
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| 2017–18 season schedule | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Regular season
Player statistics
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game |
Regular season
| Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Julius Randle | 82 | 49 | 26.7 | .558 | .222 | .718 | 8.0 | 2.6 | .5 | .5 | 16.1 |
| Kyle Kuzma | 77 | 37 | 31.2 | .450 | .366 | .707 | 6.3 | 1.8 | .6 | .4 | 16.1 |
| Kentavious Caldwell-Pope | 74 | 74 | 33.2 | .426 | .383 | .789 | 5.2 | 2.2 | 1.4 | .2 | 13.4 |
| Brook Lopez | 74 | 72 | 23.4 | .465 | .345 | .703 | 4.0 | 1.7 | .4 | 1.3 | 13.0 |
| Josh Hart | 63 | 23 | 23.2 | .469 | .396 | .702 | 4.2 | 1.3 | .7 | .3 | 7.9 |
| Brandon Ingram | 59 | 59 | 33.5 | .470 | .390 | .681 | 5.3 | 3.9 | .8 | .7 | 16.1 |
| Tyler Ennis | 54 | 11 | 12.6 | .420 | .250 | .759 | 1.8 | 1.9 | .6 | .2 | 4.1 |
| Corey Brewer† | 54 | 2 | 12.9 | .453 | .186 | .667 | 1.7 | .8 | .8 | .1 | 3.7 |
| Jordan Clarkson† | 53 | 2 | 23.7 | .448 | .324 | .795 | 3.0 | 3.3 | .7 | .1 | 14.5 |
| Lonzo Ball | 52 | 50 | 34.2 | .360 | .305 | .451 | 6.9 | 7.2 | 1.7 | .8 | 10.2 |
| Ivica Zubac | 43 | 0 | 9.5 | .500 | .000 | .765 | 2.9 | .6 | .2 | .3 | 3.7 |
| Larry Nance Jr.† | 42 | 17 | 22.0 | .601 | .250 | .632 | 6.8 | 1.4 | 1.4 | .5 | 8.6 |
| Alex Caruso | 37 | 7 | 15.2 | .431 | .302 | .700 | 1.8 | 2.0 | .6 | .3 | 3.6 |
| Andrew Bogut | 24 | 5 | 9.0 | .680 | 1.000 | 3.3 | .6 | .2 | .5 | 1.5 | |
| Isaiah Thomas† | 17 | 1 | 26.8 | .383 | .327 | .921 | 2.1 | 5.0 | .4 | .1 | 15.6 |
| Travis Wear | 17 | 0 | 13.4 | .347 | .362 | 1.000 | 2.2 | .4 | .2 | .3 | 4.4 |
| Thomas Bryant | 15 | 0 | 4.8 | .381 | .100 | .556 | 1.1 | .4 | .1 | .1 | 1.5 |
| Gary Payton II† | 11 | 0 | 10.5 | .415 | .308 | .167 | 2.5 | 1.1 | .4 | .2 | 3.5 |
| Channing Frye† | 9 | 0 | 16.7 | .465 | .360 | .750 | 2.8 | 1.1 | .1 | .1 | 5.8 |
| Vander Blue | 5 | 0 | 9.0 | .200 | .000 | .500 | .2 | .6 | .2 | .0 | .6 |
| Andre Ingram | 2 | 0 | 32.0 | .471 | .556 | 1.000 | 3.0 | 3.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 12.0 |
| Nigel Hayes-Davis† | 2 | 0 | 5.5 | .333 | .000 | 1.000 | .0 | 1.0 | .0 | .0 | 1.5 |
| Derrick Williams | 2 | 0 | 4.5 | .250 | .000 | .5 | .0 | .0 | .0 | 1.0 | |
| Luol Deng | 1 | 1 | 13.0 | .500 | .0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | .0 | 2.0 |
- † Denotes player spent time with another team in the season. Stats reflect time with the Lakers only.
Transactions
Trades
| June 22, 2017[1] | To Los Angeles Lakers Brook Lopez Draft rights to Kyle Kuzma |
To Brooklyn Nets D'Angelo Russell Timofey Mozgov |
| June 22, 2017[2] | To Los Angeles Lakers Draft rights to Josh Hart Draft rights to Thomas Bryant |
To Utah Jazz Draft rights to Tony Bradley |
| February 8, 2018[3] | To Los Angeles Lakers Protected 1st-round draft pick 2018 NBA draft Isaiah Thomas Channing Frye |
To Cleveland Cavaliers Jordan Clarkson Larry Nance Jr. |
Free agency
Re-signed
| Player | Signed |
|---|---|
| Tyler Ennis[4] | 2-year contract worth $3.1 million |
Additions
| Player | Signed | Former Team |
|---|---|---|
| Kentavious Caldwell-Pope[5] | 1-year contract worth $18 million | Detroit Pistons |
| Alex Caruso[6] | Two-way contract | Oklahoma City Blue |
| Vander Blue[7] | Two-way contract | Los Angeles D-Fenders |
| Andrew Bogut | 1-year contract worth $2.3 million | Cleveland Cavaliers |
| Gary Payton II | Two-way contract | Milwaukee Bucks / Wisconsin Herd |
| Nigel Hayes | 10-day contract | Westchester Knicks |
| Andre Ingram | 10-day contract | South Bay Lakers |
Subtractions
| Player | Reason left | New Team |
|---|---|---|
| Tarik Black[8] | Waived | Houston Rockets |
| Nick Young[9] | 1-year contract worth $5.2 million | Golden State Warriors |
| David Nwaba[10] | Waived | Chicago Bulls |
| Metta World Peace | Unrestricted free agent | New Orleans Gators / Retired |
| Thomas Robinson | Unrestricted free agent |  BC Khimki |
| Andrew Bogut | Waived | |
| Vander Blue | Waived |  Auxilium Pallacanestro Torino |
| Nigel Hayes | 10-day contract expired | Westchester Knicks |
