Lakers Coach JJ Redick Gives Reality Check on Benching Jarred Vanderbilt After LeBron James’ Return

On Monday, Lakers coach JJ Redick addressed Jarred Vanderbilt's benching after LeBron James returned on Nov. 18. Vanderbilt played 14 games, including two starts, averaging 4.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists. He played 18.4 minutes a night.

The Lakers leaned on him to raise their tempo and defensively. Vanderbilt was impactful in those areas, but offensively, he wasn't much of a factor. The veteran forward struggled from 3-point range, making just 28.6% of his shots. He was 44.0% from the field.

It allowed defenses to aggressively double the team's stars, or clog the paint, compromising LA's spacing. It was widely predicted that Vanderbilt could have lost his spot once the Lakers were healthy for these reasons.

Here's what Redick said on Vanderbilt's buy-in level with the team while he's benched and the reason why he's not played him after James' return (via Lakers reporter Daniel Starkland):

"He's been good, he's been a pro. He's been ready in the most recent stay-ready that we had this week. He was great. ...

"I communicated to him before LeBron came back that there were certain things that he needed to be able to do consistently to play before LeBron came back, after LeBron came back and that there was potentially a numbers crunch because we probably were gonna play a nine-man rotation and that was just the reality."

JJ Redick said he isn't entirely ruling out Jarred Vanderbilt's return to the rotation at some point, regardless of the roster health. However, he did indicate that it's difficult at the moment, considering the Lakers are winning. They boasted the second-best record (15-4) in the West and were on a seven-game winning streak before Monday's clash against Phoenix.

Redick said he had "empathy" for Vanderbilt after being caught as an "innocent bystander" for losing his minutes.

JJ Redick might need to insert Jarred Vanderbilt into the Lakers' lineup due to defensive woes

The Lakers have been on a tear, but it's their offense that has propelled them to their 7-0 run. They are fifth in offensive rating at 118.9 efficiency per 100 possessions. However, defensively, the Lakers are 16th with a 114.9 rating. They often get beaten on the 50-50 possessions and in physical matchups.

JJ Redick might need to lean on Jarred Vanderbilt, albeit for limited stretches, to overcome those issues. Vanderbilt has often struggled with the Luka Doncic-led lineups, but he's got decent synergy with LeBron James and Austin Reaves.

The Lakers have enough offensive talent to compensate for Vanderbilt's shortcomings on that end across all their units.