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In the midst of all of the drama in the team’s front office, the Los Angeles Lakers closed out their regular season on a high note on Tuesday (sort of). While the Portland Trail Blazers came away with the win on a buzzer-beating shot, L.A. competed for a full 48 minutes and gave the playoff-bound Blazers a run for their money, while still helping their lottery odds with a loss in the end.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope once again had a fantastic scoring night, pouring on a game-high 32 points to go along with eight assists, five rebounds and a steal. Contract Month Kenny has shown enough over the past few weeks to intrigue a team about giving him another sizable contract in free agency.
Jemerrio Jones was also a bright spot for the Lakers in his limited playing time. In his second start for the Lakers, Jones notched his first career double-double with 11 points on 50 percent shooting from the field and 10 rebounds to go along with two steals. In the five games he’s played for Los Angeles, he’s posted the second-best box plus-minus (+6.2) on the team behind his former South Bay Lakers teammate Johnathan Williams (+7.8).
Long live Joey Buss.
With the regular season now in the books, the Lakers will start preparing for what promises to be an eventful offseason. Following the shocking resignation of now-former president of basketball operations Magic Johnson, the Lakers will have to conduct a search for a new president of basketball operations (and possibly a new general manager depending on what happens with Rob Pelinka).
The new front office they bring in could also make a change at the head coaching position, so that will be worth watching as well. If fans thought this season was a headache, just wait until what unfolds over the next few weeks.
We’ll be there to react to it right along with you, and thanks for helping make this a fun season, in spite of everything.
For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow Christian on Twitter at @RadRivas.