Wesley Matthews helped the Lakers secure an overtime win over the Thunder Monday night in a rare high point of a frustrating season, writes Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times. After not playing at all for 10 days, Matthews got an opportunity due to any injury to Alex Caruso and responded with 16 points. His time with L.A. hasn’t gone the way he expected after signing as a free agent during the offseason, but he doesn’t regret the decision.
“No, it didn’t make me second-guess anything,” Matthews said. “It’s just a matter of time. … Since entering this league, nothing has gone according to what I would have dreamed of being an NBA player. … It was unfortunate, but at the same time, it’s your job to be professional. It’s your job to stay ready.”
At age 34, Matthews is adjusting to a new role after being a starter for most of his career, including 67 games with the Bucks last season. He said he appreciates coach Frank Vogel’s honest approach when he decided to trim the rotation.
“He knows the conversation isn’t going to be easy. I know the conversation isn’t going to be easy,” Matthews said. “But the conversation needs to take place just so that you can get the best out of somebody. … Conversations can be difficult. They need to be had and I didn’t love anything he had to say, but your job is to be professional. Your job is to play basketball and cheer on your teammates and be supportive and be a pro.”
There’s more on the Lakers:
- LeBron James said it was “very inspiring” to watch Tom Brady win a seventh Super Bowl at age 43, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN. James, who is sometimes compared to Brady for their ability to remain productive past normal retirement age, has no time frame in mind for ending his career. “I don’t know how long I’m going to play the game,” James said. “I don’t know how much more I’ll be able to give to the game. The way I feel right now, we’ll see what happens. But I have no timetable on it. I have no year of, ‘OK, do I want to play until 30-this or 40-that?’ The game will let me know when it’s time, and we’ll figure it out then.”
- Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times examines the reasons for James’ longevity and finds it’s a combination of three factors — continuing to improve his skills, remaining committed to health, and fitness and mastering the mental part of the game.
- Dennis Schroder knew he had to take on a complementary role to James and Anthony Davis when he was traded to the Lakers, Turner writes in a separate story. Schroder adapted right away and has become the third-leading scorer on the team at 14.4 PPG. “I play with the two best players in the world,” he said. “So, for me, I try to adjust to this group, to them, it’s big time. I think I just got to be more aggressive taking the right shots and putting them in good position to score and play a lot faster.”
LBJ: “Watching the refs make every first half call against not Tom Brady, and to throw a flag on Mathieu when Tom Brady started that exchange, gives me great hope that the NBA will continue to support my career similarly to what the NFL has done for Brady. Maybe I’ll play to 43 too!”
I’m sure we’ll be seeing LeBron going for his 7th ring in 2028.
Lol Deathwest….bitter much? Or just not knowledgeable enough to understand what a penalty is?
You really typed this out and thought “yeah this is it”
Yes, amk1920. That childish sarcasm is how I feel about the parallels between the NFL and Tom Brady and the NBA and LBJ.
To Mcmillankmm, I’ll go with bitter because I think those calls were poor and ruined the game.
Any more questions?
You are correct. The refs gifted Brady with an undeserved touchdown just before the half in several cases, and that was enough to keep KC down. Of course they were winning at the time so maybe they win anyway, but the contest was marred by the refs getting too personally involved. The TV halftime group said that from the getgo, but CBS’s grudging use of replay and Romo’s sincerity seemed UNwilling to support a controversial narrative.
I think they were actually more anti-Mathieu than pro-Brady but it works out the same. Comparison: The Steelers and refs beating the Seahawks a few years back.
You mean watch the refs make the right calls? They suppose to let guys be offsides or hold other players? Weird, thought those were considered penalties for a reason, guess I’ve been wrong this whole time. Just because they didn’t call them against the Chiefs against the 49ers last year doesn’t mean it’s going to happen every time they do it.
Offsides and holding calls are not the test of officiating anyway I recall no bias. If anything the Niners had been more transgressive throughout the year and used a style that wore their own players down for short-term success.
People don’t get the reality that the refs do not look for holding tactics, only hooking tactics, which they call called holding. So look for hooking to see holding. They were separate penalties into the 80s, both 10 yards, but the rules committees made the confusion worse when they tried to “fix” it.
For offsides, the yellow line on TV is not there as a guide. TV fans get a more detailed view. Nobody likes pres-snap penalties.
Gotta commend Matthews for being a professional.. it’s obvious vogel caters to the klutch clients..Mathews was brought in to replace Danny green defensively and 3 pt shooting.. he has been a starter and it’s an adjustment for him to go to a reserve role.. vogel giving him inconsistent minutes Doesnt help.everyone singing tht praises but he is often times looking lost defensively and out of control when he drives the lane..kuzma defensively isn’t good but gets praise cause he rebounds.. he was so good last night he sat at end of game and all of it..gasol I have no idea why they continue to put him out there and give him minutes.. bottom line markieff and Mathews need to be in rotation..
Gasol looks washed but I think they just let him bang with the big bodies to start games. The team has been playing so well, it’s really hard to argue with the rotations but I’d love to see LeBron get more rest and playing Kieff more could do that. That being said, we’re also an older team and as you see with AD, some of these things work themselves out
Its Not conducive really to run a 11 man rotation in the NBA , Morris and Mathews were the 2 that had to sit for a while
Tht Caruso and Kuzma simply deserved more mins and the team needed to condense rotations-
Now it would sure help if we ever blew anyone out or could hold a lead…..
Center will be dealt with, not sure who , not sure how, but Gasols not going to be the guy come June
You can’t be a bad team mate on a lebron team. Nobody is getting in his way, nobody will be permitted to be a cancer in the locker room. He is the alpha, you gotta fall in line or you gotta go.
Its totally true…I said in here when Bradley and Howard went against LBJ’s BLM manner of messaging it was their last year here no matter what
* Not saying Avery or Howard were bad, more the falling in lone part-
It can be good and bad at times, Howard would really fit well this year, but overall I think you want a Lebron locker room over random team 8 days a week
Matthews is a ring chaser the only reason he went to LA. If he cared about stats or playing time he could of went somewhere else.
So Gasol and Harrell didn’t sign with the Lakers to chase rings too?
And it’s not like the ring Marc got with the Raptors really counts anyway since the Warriors were missing both KD and Klay.
Every ring counts. Marc went to LA because Pau lives there with his family, thats why Marc signed a two year deal – so their families could be together.