Jarred Vanderbilt officially signed a four-year, $48 million contract extension with the Los Angeles Lakers, and sure enough, LeBron James is excited about the development Incessantly.
On his Instagram Story, James shared the Lakers’ Official Announcement Vanderbilt signed. While he didn’t say anything, the superstar forward made it clear how he felt about the deal by adding several “hands up” emojis to his social media post.
LeBron Hype 👀 pic.twitter.com/C2pe2eFXej
— Kit Guinhawa (@BeatKit22) September 19, 2023
Jared Vanderbilt came to La La Land via midseason trades with the Utah Jazz and Minnesota Timberwolves and played a major role in the Lakers’ turnaround in 2022-23. While he struggled in the playoffs, there’s no denying that he was a big reason the team made it to the postseason after a pretty poor start.
The 24-year-old forward averaged 7.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.2 steals in 26 games for the Lakers during the 2022-23 regular season, while shooting 52.9% from the field. In the playoffs, as his playing time decreased, his average data dropped to 4.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 0.7 steals per game. However, his presence is still important for the Purple and Gold as he is arguably the Purple and Gold’s second-best defender behind Anthony Davis.
Vanderbilt is expected to play a key role again in 2023-24 as the Lakers look to return to the playoffs and reach the Western Conference Finals. They lost to the Denver Nuggets in last year’s conference finals.It’s certainly not going to be easy for LeBron James and his teammates, which is why they need role players like Vanderbilt to step up