Malik Monk has been a revelation for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Despite being on a one-year deal for the veteran minimum, Monk has gone off lately, scoring at least 15 points in the last six games, including four 20-point games.
He’s knocking down shots at a high clip from all over the court, providing the Lakers an extraordinary secondary creating presence and outplaying the value of his contract.
The Lakers likely would not have defeated the Sacramento Kings without his 24 points, which included him hitting 6-of-11 shots from beyond the arc that kept L.A. fighting in the fourth quarter.
After the game, LeBron James revealed the Lakers, including former assistant coach Jason Kidd, wanted to bring Monk in from the Charlotte Hornets last season.
“It’s funny, just a little quick backstory: Me and J Kidd, we talked a lot last year. We wanted him last year,” James said. “When Charlotte stopped playing him last year, or they would play him, and then sit him for five or six games, and then they would play him, and then you would see him have a game at Miami where he had like eight or nine 3s in Miami, and then they would sit him and not play him. Me and J Kidd, we would talk all the time, like, ‘Is there a way we can snatch this guy from their roster?'”
James commented on Monk’s play while he was still in college.
“So through patience and good timing, we were able to get him in the summertime, which still doesn’t make sense to me, but we’re happy to have him. He’s a dynamic player and I always just think about that two-headed monster they had at Kentucky with both of those guys — him and De’Aaron (Fox). They literally were just electrifying, taking turns, so we’re happy to have him here.”
