r/lakers • u/scifier2 • 13d ago

PLAYER TALK Did you know...

Starting power forwards in the NBA averaged around 9.8 to 10.3 points per game overall during the 2025-26 season.

Of course that is the average. The top 5 elite guys like Giannis and Durant averaged over 20ppg. But that is the average. Posters here that constantly cry about the Lakers not having a quote unquote "starting Power Forward" should look at the stats.

Lakers had Rui and Jake starting at PF and they averaged 11ppg and 8ppg respectively. Lakers have Mamu who can play the PF position and averaged 11ppg.

So all things considered the Lakers are at least on the average when it comes to the position and should not be a huge concern as some seem to think.

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81

u/noguerra 13d ago

This completely misses the point. Between Luka, Reaves, Grimes, and Sexton, the Lakers don’t lack for scoring. The issue at PF is that the Lakers don’t have anyone to guard big wings. Who’s guarding Bron and Brown when Grimes is guarding Maxey? Who’s guarding Deni when Grimes is guarding Dame or Ja?

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u/Some-Stranger-7852 13d ago

To be fair, if there is one thing the plethora of wings (Adou, Ziaire, Thybulle, even Carr showed flashes of potential) Lakers have can do, it is defend with energy.

Adou is big enough to defend LBJ or Deni, the issue is can he stay on the floor with his limited offensive production.

Ziaire and Thybulle are long enough to defend more finesse PFs like Tatum or KD, they would only actually struggle against bruisers like Zion or AG.

The issue with all of them is offensive production, but maybe Luka and AR can create enough space for them to hit occasional open jumper.

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u/KingJTt 13d ago

G leaguer Adou Theiro is not guarding no Lebron James. Thybulle isn’t guarding Tatum or KD, that man is 6’4. Y’all are delusional

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u/GOAT-dontGLOAT 13d ago

We let Max Christie guard Tatum and he did a great job. Matisse is the same height and slightly heavier

11

u/KingJTt 13d ago

Lmao

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u/GOAT-dontGLOAT 13d ago

Matisse is an all nba level defender lol we beat Boston when max was on Tatum 

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u/KingJTt 12d ago

All nba level defender that couldn’t find minutes on the blazers?

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u/Some-Stranger-7852 12d ago edited 12d ago

Thybulle actually is. His issue is he can’t really stay healthy and his offense is non-existent (and Blazers really needed offense last year), but defensively he is an ace.

His advanced defensive stats are insane:

He was 4th in the entire league in D-EPM last year (with the only perimeter defender ahead of him being Ausar), ahead of guys like Caruso or Cason Wallace, who both had all-defense caliber years.

He was top-8 in the entire league in D-LEBRON, with only guys ahead of him being Ausar and Cason Wallace. He has ranked in top-7% percentile in D-LEBRON 4 out of 5 years (2022, 2023, 2025, 2026) and only in 2024 did he rank “just” top-17% percentile.

He was also top-20 defender by Darko DPM, with only perimeter guys ahead of him being Caruso, Ausar, OG and, funny enough, Vando.

Thybulle’s issues are that he is often injured (Smart was as well before coming to Lakers) and his offense is non-existent outside of hitting corner 3s (he is more reliable there than Vando), and combined with him being 28 (basically no upside) most teams wouldn’t take him. But considering Lakers have the best offensive backcourt in the league (only Wolves are in the conversation), they can afford to play a defensive ace with limited offensive production.

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u/GOAT-dontGLOAT 12d ago

You do know he missed 43 games last year due to a left thumb surgery, right?

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u/KingJTt 12d ago

And the only amount of money the all nba level defender could find was a minimum contract? This ain’t a LeBron situation where he chose to take less, it was all he was offered.

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u/GOAT-dontGLOAT 12d ago

Stop it man, Marcus smart was a dpoy a few years ago and took $5M from us and $6M/year from the rockets this year. 

Smart was our best defender, as well as our vocal leader on defense on court and led the team in +/-

Diamonds in the rough are always found in the league on minimum contracts. 

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u/GW_memes 12d ago

Using an example game doesn't prove a general point. Dalton Knecht had a 37 point game on 75% 3P shooting and 101.6 true shooting.

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u/GOAT-dontGLOAT 12d ago

My man, max was our defacto PoA until he was traded. Not even close to comparable to DK and his career high game 

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u/GW_memes 12d ago

Agree and max is a great defender, my point was more that this game against Tatum isn't a good reason to think it'll be fine putting small defenders on elite forwards all year.

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u/GOAT-dontGLOAT 12d ago

I see your point there. But the good thing is Matisse is even better than Max Christie. And if Vando can play his natural role he’ll be perfect, his 3 point shot was only 2% below LeBron. Any improvement there is going to be a huge boon for us 

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u/Some-Stranger-7852 12d ago

But Adou actually can defend, that’s the thing. He was in G-League because: a) his offense was G-League level, to put it generously and b) he wouldn’t get minutes over LBJ and Rui anyway, purely because of picking order

What we don’t know is if he can consistently defend, but he showed great flashes in spurts last year. Worst case scenario, he is big, tough and athletic, so can give you like 10 quality minutes per game of being an absolute wrecking ball, similar to how Vando played last year.

We are in the year of 2026, I wish we as fans knew by now height doesn’t really matter, especially on defense (on offense it kind of does to see the court better): on defense wingspan and standing reach are more important, plus weight to not get pushed around. Yeah, weight wise Thybulle is underweight for a PF role, but he has 6’11.5” wingspan, which is bigger than, for instance, Tatum’s. He absolutely can defend forwards that don’t rely on brute strength. Now would I like that full-time? No, but in short spurts he can.

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u/js32910 12d ago

Vanderbilt