Lakers News: Ivica Zubac says he’s ready to shoot some 3-pointers

On a night Julius Randle and Larry Nance, Jr. combined for five 3-point attempts, one of their fellow young frontcourt players told the media he’s ready to join the long-distance party.

"I can do it. I can shoot from outside,” Los Angeles Lakers rookie Ivica Zubac told the media on Spectrum Sportsnet following the team’s 122-110 win over the Phoenix Suns. “It's only a matter of if I get the ball there."

Zubac has expressed confidence about his long-range prowess all season, but has taken and missed just one 3-pointer at the NBA level all season. His sample size of attempts isn’t much larger in the D-League, where he’s attempted 11 treys, although knocking down four of them (36.4 percent) is a promising start.

If Zubac can eventually step behind the arc to credibly space the floor, it would add a new dimension to a Lakers’ offense sorely lacking in shooting from the frontcourt spots. If he does so while Nance and Randle continue to competently bomb away like they did against the Suns, it would hold the potential to make the Lakers a versatile offensive juggernaut in a few years.

All stats per NBA.com and Basketball-Reference.com. Harrison Faigen is co-host of the Locked on Lakers podcast (subscribe here), and you can follow him on Twitter at @hmfaigen.