The Los Angeles Lakers clearly need more depth, particularly on the front line, and help is finally coming at the most critical time.
L.A. faces elimination in Game 5 of its first-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night, April 30, trailing 3-1.
The team announced a few hours before tipoff that former Dallas Mavericks big man Maxi Kleber, who came over as part of the Luka Doncic–Anthony Davis trade back in February, will return from injury to make his debut in the potentially series-deciding contest.
BREAKING: Maxi Kleber is making his Lakers debut tonight
“BREAKING: Maxi Kleber is making his Lakers debut tonight,” the LakeShowYo X account posted Wednesday.
Maxi Kleber Can Offer Lakers Elements They’ve Been Missing on Interior
GettyMaxi Kleber, formerly of the Dallas Mavericks, will make his debut for the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5 of their first-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Kleber is a vital addition considering the position he plays and his versatility defensively. At 6-feet, 10-inches tall and 240 pounds, Kleber has mostly played power forward, though he has also done considerable work at center over the course of his eight-year NBA career.
He is fleet of foot enough to switch onto smaller players on defense and still hold up. Kleber is also a viable threat from the 3-point line, hitting those shots at a 35.4% clip for his career on 3.1 attempts per game, which should allow him to play successfully as a floor-spacing big alongside Doncic and LeBron James.
Kleber is 33 years old and in the second season of a three-year contract worth $33 million total. He suffered a fracture to his right foot in late January, an injury that has sidelined him ever since.
It is unclear just how much Kleber will be able to play in his first game back in over three months, or how effective he will be after such a long absence. However, head coach JJ Redick played just five players for the entirety of the second half against Minnesota in Game 4, so any help Kleber is able to offer could prove monumental against the Timberwolves.
Should Los Angeles win and remain alive to play another day, Kleber’s contributions should only grow as the playoffs continue.
Lakers Trying to Piece Together Optimal Roster Around Luka Doncic on Fly
GettyLuka Doncic and LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Should the Lakers fall to the Timberwolves, either in Game 5 or later in the series, and exit the Western Conference playoffs in the first round, the basketball world at large will view it as an upset. That said, this version of the No. 3-seeded Lakers didn’t come together at all until early February, and the process remains ongoing.
Doncic stayed sidelined after the trade with a calf injury that ultimately cost him six weeks total, which is the longest injury absence of his seven-year career to this point. Kleber is only now coming back and would likely have been a key cog in the Lakers’ rotation, as they try to build an optimal roster around Doncic on the fly.
Kleber isn’t the rim-running, rim-protecting big man that Los Angeles tried to trade for after acquiring Doncic and will certainly pursue come this summer. But he does add versatile size on both ends of the court, not to mention depth to a roster that badly needs it.
