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Patrick Beverley
Logically, Beverley should have been a great fit on this Lakers team, an off-ball guard who does damage as a spot-up threat without taking too many opportunities away from the team’s two superstars, all while acting like a pest defensively. That has not been the case thus far, however, as Beverley has performed at the level hardly becoming of a rotation player, let alone of a starter.
Beverley’s 4.5 points per game and 23.5 percent shooting from beyond the arc are brutal enough but when you factor in his BPM (-3.4, 181st league-wide) and VORP (-0.2, in the mid-400s), you are looking at a player who is killing his value heading into unrestricted free agency prior to his age-35 season.
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Fred VanVleet
The Raptors haven’t far exceeded preseason expectations, and part of the reason for that has been the play of VanVleet, who hasn’t looked like the All-Star of seasons past.
Now, that could easily change, of course, but there’s no question VanVleet has struggled on the campaign, averaging 17.0 points on 36.0 percent shooting from the floor, 32.6 percent from three. VanVleet hasn’t been the impactful difference-maker of years past, as Toronto is merely 1.3 points per 100 possessions better with him on the floor this season, a lowly mark for a player of VanVleet’s abilities.
VanVleet clearly isn’t fully healthy and is trying to play through pain because in his last nine games after sitting out three of five contests due to injury, he’s averaging 15.1 points and shooting 32.8 percent from the field.
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D’Angelo Russell
His raw numbers have improved of late but overall on the campaign, Russell has struggled to find his role on a team with two seven-foot behemoths clogging the paint and a fellow ball-dominant lead guard playing alongside him.
Just last night, Russell had 23 points in a 21-point defeat to Portland, requiring 19 shot attempts to reach that total while boasting a plus/minus of -13. Even more concerning is that for the season, Minnesota has been nearly 10 points worse with Russell on the floor.
Whatever teams do go after Russell in free agency will surely be in need of a bucket-getting lead guard and have a table-setting guard already in place, as Russell has shown he doesn’t acclimate well to sharing with another high-usage player in the same backcourt.
– Frank Urbina
