Wesley Matthews was the last Laker to return to the locker room after his postgame interview with Spectrum SportsNet.
As Matthews entered the locker room, he was greeted with cheering and clapping, and even some barking, from his teammates.
Wes, that’s what we’re talking about. Big time.
To cap the triumphant moment, Jared Dudley handed Matthews the game ball because, well, he deserved it.
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After not playing in over a week, registering four consecutive DNP-CDs since Jan. 28, Matthews produced a critical 16-point, two-steal, one-block performance in the Lakers’ 119-112 overtime win over the Thunder on Monday night at Staples Center.
“Exceptional performance by Wes tonight,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. “That’s the simplest way to put it.”
When Matthews signed with the Lakers in the offseason, the career-long starter envisioned a potential starting role, similar to one Danny Green held last season, or, at the least, a prominent role off of the bench.
Instead, a little more than a month into the season, Matthews found himself as the 10th man and, even worse, out of the rotation completely.
After the Lakers lost back-to-back games in Philadelphia and Detroit on Jan. 27 and 28, Vogel decided to trim the rotation from 11 players to nine, temporarily eliminating Matthews and Markieff Morris’ minutes.
Lineup data revealed that configurations with the two were struggling. The eye test also showed that from an offensive perspective they were the least-versatile players skill-wise in the rotation.
Vogel was upfront with both Matthews and Morris, laying out his plan and his reasoning behind it.
One of Vogel’s greatest strengths is his communication. He doesn’t sugarcoat his messaging. He’s straightforward while also balancing the sensitivities of difficult conversations. Managing NBA egos and personalities can be tricky — especially with players who have almost always started and/or played important roles on their teams like Matthews and Morris.
But Matthews appreciated the candidness from Vogel, even if he didn’t necessarily agree with the decision, and, ultimately, accepted his message.
“It’s never going to be what I want to hear,” Matthews said. “I want to play every single game. That’s just the competitor that I am. … But the conversation needs to take place just so that you can get the best out of somebody. Had I not known that I wasn’t going to play, maybe I don’t do what I do pregame and then it doesn’t have the rollover effect of tonight. Conversations can be difficult. They need to be had.
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“I didn’t love anything he had to say, but your job is to be professional. Your job is to play basketball and cheer on your teammates and be supportive and be a pro. And that’s it. Like Dudz puts it, ‘Be a pro.'”
Vogel’s difficult decision proved prescient, as the Lakers went 4-0 over the next four games, finding a solid rhythm with a shorter rotation and a new bench-centric unit that’s quickly become one of their better lineups.
But with Anthony Davis (right Achilles tendonosis) and Alex Caruso (right hand strain) out against the Thunder, the Lakers needed Matthews and Morris, who started in Davis’ place, to field a rotation. Matthews responded with his second-most points of the season in his fourth-most minutes (26).
Matthews closed the game, playing five minutes in the fourth, including the final two, and all of overtime, hitting a key 3-pointer in the final two minutes of each period. He knocked in four 3s overall. He was also active on the defensive end with two steals, a block and four fouls, locking into Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Hamidou Diallo as he played physical on-ball defense.
Considering his late-game minutes and crunch-time shot-making, it was his best performance of the season.
“Incredible energy on both sides of the ball, but, in particular, defensively,” Vogel said. “In a game where this is a duck-your-head-and-drive-the-paint offensive attack, without a lot of screening action, you need as many guys as you can that contain the basketball. Two of our best containment guys, AD and Alex, being out, we definitely needed his toughness on that side of the ball. And then obviously he hit some big 3s, and on a night where we couldn’t throw it in the ocean. So, he was great.”
Matthews has been patiently waiting to get back on the floor since his demotion. To stay in game shape, he’s been playing games of one-on-one with assistant coach Miles Simon and player development coach Jon Pastorek after shootarounds and walkthroughs on game days.
Sometimes, that turns into five-on-five action with Morris and some of the younger players.
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“A little bit of everybody getting the business right now,” Matthews said.
On the road, Matthews has used the stationary bike or elliptical at the hotel to break a sweat.
“It’s not easy,” Matthews said of finding ways to replicate game intensity.
Knowing that he’d be back in the rotation on Monday, Matthews stayed late after shootaround, getting shots up with assistant coaches.
“I was just taking good looks and my teammates found me,” Matthews said. “Thankful that they went in. Just working, staying ready, staying positive. And it’s just a night like this, I was able to find the spots. (LeBron James) and everybody else was finding me and I was just — they were doing the hard work, and I was just knocking shots in.”
With his third 3-pointer, Matthews (1,687) passed Steve Nash for 24th on the NBA’s all-time 3-pointers list.
James, as well as Montrezl Harrell and Dennis Schröder, were glowing about Matthews’ resilience during their respective postgame media availabilities.
“Just a true professional, man,” James said. “For the team and for the grand scheme of things, you just stay ready. And he did that. You never know what’s going to happen. … He’s been putting in the work behind closed doors, behind the cameras and things of that nature and just staying ready. Tonight was that opportunity. And he made the most of it.”
Before this season, Matthews had started 729 of 791 career regular-season games and 46 of 46 playoff games. He even started on last season’s Milwaukee Bucks squad that had the best regular-season record and was favored to make the finals. To not even play on this Lakers team seems unfathomable.
Coming off of the bench is unchartered territory for Matthews. He’s a proud player. He admitted earlier in the season that his pregame preparation is different with his bench role, and it’s been both an adjustment and a challenge. And that was before he was outright benched.
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It’s unclear how Monday’s performance will impact Matthews’ role moving forward. Though he played his best game of the season, it came with Davis and Caruso out, and against a lottery team. There were several circumstances in Matthews’ favor.
Matthews remains the only Laker rotation player with a negative net rating (minus-1.5), and has yet to prove he should play over Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Caruso, Kyle Kuzma or Talen Horton-Tucker. The Lakers’ offense falls off a steep cliff with Matthews on the court (114.9 offensive rating with him off vs. 103.3 offensive rating with him on).
One game doesn’t change what’s otherwise largely been a disappointing season for him. But it’s reasonable to think that he’s separated himself from Morris as the clear 10th man, earning minutes whenever there is foul trouble, an injury or an absence (or if Vogel is feeling creative lineup-wise).
Until further notice, Matthews’ playing time appears matchup-based. The Lakers need him specifically in matchups against teams with multiple potent scoring wings (Nets, Clippers, Celtics, etc.). Fortunately for him, most of the league’s top teams feature some combination of wings or guards that could require his defensive prowess.
Vogel may continue to tinker with lineups and rotations, in which case Matthews should play more frequently, potentially in a new bench-centric group.
But Matthews’ breakthrough on Monday was a culmination of him accepting the reality of his sacrifice in Los Angeles, and still putting in the work. He’s sidelined his pride and ego for the betterment of the team. The Lakers are 5-0 since Vogel made the switch to a nine-man rotation (the Lakers stuck with nine guys again without Davis and Caruso).
Matthews said he has no regrets about his decision to join the Lakers, quelling any concerns over him eventually demanding a trade or asking to be bought out.
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“It didn’t make me second-guess anything,” Matthews said. “It’s just a matter of time. Since entering this league, nothing has gone according to what I would have dreamed of being an NBA player. So, truthfully, a setback or whatever this was isn’t anything new to me. I’ve had to deal with adversity my whole career. It was unfortunate, but at the same time, it’s your job to be professional. It’s your job to stay ready. …
“And just knowing whenever the time is called, it’s go-time.”
(Top photo of Wesley Matthews: Adam Pantozzi / NBAE via Getty Images)