Lakers Gaming Recap 2018-19

Lakers Gaming wrapped up their inaugural season in 2019, and the year was highlighted by the individual performances of its first six players to ever suit up for the team.

Mitchell “Mootyy” Franklin was the first player ever selected to Lakers Gaming when the team chose him with the fourth overall pick in the 2019 NBA 2K League Expansion Draft. Mootyy averaged 9.1 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.8 assists and 1.5 blocks in his first season with Lakers Gaming. The team’s starting center finished the season ranked fourth in the league in blocks per game and 11th in rebounds per game. He tallied seven double-doubles on the year and blocked multiple shots in five games. Mootyy’s best game of the year came against NetsGC where he tallied 14 points, 12 rebounds, two steals and five blocks.

Jordan “Vert” Gates, acquired in a trade before the 2019 season, averaged 10.5 points, 1.4 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.6 steals while playing four different positions during the year. He played the last seven games of the year as the team’s point guard and recorded two double-doubles while averaging 12.3 points and 9.1 assists as the lead ball handler. Vert flashed his point guard abilities against Pistons GT, recording 14 points, three rebounds and 13 assists.

The team used their second-round pick in the 2019 Draft on Kevin “Kev” Alvarado and the rookie quickly became one of the best players on the team. He averaged a team-high 15.6 points with 1.2 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 2.1 steals per game. Kev ended the season with a career-high 41 points (15-23 FG, 7-10 3FG) with three rebounds and three steals.

Selected with the fifth overall pick in the Expansion Draft, Christopher “KontruL” Cantrell spent most of the season as the team’s lockdown defender and averaged 7.7 points, 1.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.1 steals per game. KontruL had his best game of the season against Pistons GT, finishing with 10 points, two rebounds and four steals.

Christopher “Detoxys” Doyle was the glue of the team and a reliable option in every game, averaging 9.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game.  His best performance of the year came against the eventual champion T-Wolves, where he scored 19 points (8-12 FG) with eight rebounds and two steals.

The team’s sixth man, Shane “Safiya4ya” Farrar proved to be a valuable member of the organization and ended the season on a high note. He averaged 10.8 points, 1.3 assists and a team-leading 3.0 steals in limited action. Safiya4ya scored a season-high 15 points along with five steals against the Pistons in his finest performance of the year.