Malik Monk signs with Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers traded for Russell Westbrook. Now, they’ll be starting Westbrook, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis. With Davis not playing the five often, they may also start Marc Gasol or the recently-signed Carmelo Anthony.

Given those five already on the roster, the Lakers are desperately in the need of shooting. With that in mind, they went out and made yet another move to supplement the clear flaw their roster is bound to have.

This time, they signed former Kentucky Wildcat Malik Monk.

Monk’s role is far from set as he’ll likely come off the bench to start. However, the 23-year-old former lottery pick has only improved in each of his four seasons in the NBA, so it may not take long for him to prove his value to the team.

That said, this agreement was first reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

As noted, Monk’s spacing is his biggest attribute. He shot over 40 percent from deep last season and can perfectly supplement the lost contributions of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. The Lakers traded KCP in a package for Westbrook.

Monk will have every chance to fill those shoes and potentially be the starting shooting guard for the LA Lakers, a team with championship aspirations. Having played on the Hornets in each of his first four seasons, it should be a relief to being on a team that isn’t expected to finish at the bottom of their conference.

That said, on his career, Monk averages 9.1 points per game and shoots 34 percent from deep.

As long as he’s not asked to do to much creation, this could be the break that Monk has been looking for, especially as he’d be more of an afterthought in Charlotte with LaMelo Ball taking over the show.

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