Can Dion Waiters be a net positive for the Lakers?

Dion Waiters provided valuable minutes in Thursday’s victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. Is it going to be a trend?

Thursday night was Dion Waiters’ first meaningful basketball game in over two years. The 6-foot-3 shooting guard hasn’t experienced much luck nor team success throughout his career. Waiters has been on two playoff teams in eight years: the 2016 Oklahoma City Thunder (blew a 3-1 lead to the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals) and the 2018 Miami Heat (was out with a season-ending ankle injury he suffered in January but the team lost to the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference First Round). Part of the lack of success is that Waiters hasn’t been able to stick anywhere. His first game with the Lakers marked the fourth different team he’s played for in his eight-year career.

Now, he has a golden opportunity to put all that failure behind him. His performance Thursday night was the perfect way to showcase that to the Lakers: 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting, three rebounds, two assists and a block. Although this is a respectable stat line that may not stand out, the most important number is minutes played (21).

What did Dion Waiters show the Lakers in his first game?

Not only did Waiters log major minutes off the bench along with Alex Caruso and Kyle Kuzma, he also played six and a half minutes of the fourth quarter. He had five points, a rebound, an assist and his lone block in that span. But those numbers alone don’t provide the full context.

Waiters’ points came via two go-ahead shots: a contact layup for a temporary 78-77 lead and a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer in Landry Shamet‘s grill for an 82-80 edge the Lakers wouldn’t relinquish until the closing seconds of the game.

Waiters capped off his energetic fourth-quarter burst with a dime to Danny Green for a corner long-range bomb to extend the Lakers’ advantage to double-digits. Although he didn’t play down the final stretch, the 28-year-old guard did exactly what head coach Frank Vogel could’ve hoped for: be a spark plug off the bench while still playing within the team system. The result was a plus-minus of plus-17.

If Waiters imitates or at least displays similar stats to Thursday’s game, expect his playing time to drastically increase. In fact, it could occur as soon as Saturday night against the Toronto Raptors due to Caruso sustaining a neck injury in a collision with Patrick Patterson (as of now, Caruso is expected to play but the team could err on the side of caution and restrict his minutes due to the already shorthanded backcourt).

Waiters’ performance puts pressure on J.R. Smith as well. Smith was limited to seven minutes (all in the second quarter) and recorded zero points on one field goal attempt, one personal foul and a plus-minus of minus-7. It’s unclear as to why exactly Smith was on such a short leash, but Kawhi Leonard‘s bounce-back second-quarter could be an indication (14 points on 4-of-10 shooting, including 1-of-2 from beyond the arc, and 5-of-5 from the free-throw line).

Waiters can be a valuable asset when given the opportunity. He flubbed it earlier in his career with the Cleveland Cavaliers and last season with the Heat. But Waiters appeared to put his career back on track after a solid year and a half with the Thunder. He even logged meaningful playing time as Andre Roberson‘s backup during the 2016 postseason run. The 6-foot-3 shooting guard averaged 8.4 points on 41.7 percent shooting, including 37.5 percent from long range on 3.1 attempts, in 27.3 minutes and played all 18 games.

Saturday night will be a true test for how well Waiters can help the Lakers. The Raptors could prove to be a tougher matchup than the Clippers because not only are they the defending champions, but they’re an intelligent group that thrives off pinpointing weaknesses and capitalizing on mistakes. Waiters will have to limit his mistakes, really play within the team system and not feel forced to take tough jumpers (there were a few instances of him chucking a bad shot in Thursday’s game).

The Lakers’ next seeding contest against the Raptors is slated for 8:30 pm ET in the ESPN World Wide of Sports Arena.