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On Monday, the Los Angeles Lakers will wrap up scrimmage play but will do so without LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kyle Kuzma and Dwight Howard after opting to rest them ahead of the season restart.
The decision to sit those players will give others on the roster an opportunity to play a majority of the game against the Washington Wizards. One player that figures to have an extended chance to play is rookie center Devontae Cacok.
Cacok spent the majority of the season in the G League, per his two-way contract, with the South Bay Lakers. Cacok was named to the 2019-20 All-NBA G League First Team after averaging 19.4 points and 11.9 rebounds. He led all players in the G League with 27 double-doubles.
Ahead of the Lakers’ final scrimmage game on Monday, head coach Frank Vogel spoke very highly of Cacok, calling him a monster with his aggressiveness.
It’s going to be a great opportunity to further evaluate Kostas Antetokounmpo, Devontae Cacok and Talen Horton-Tucker. Those guys will get extended minutes today. Once we see the seeding games, we might not have as much as an opportunity to do that but we will today. … Devontae is just a monster with his aggressiveness on the boards, his physical play, his hustle aspect to his game. He just impacts the game.
Cacok went scoreless in 10 minutes played in the first scrimmage game last week and logged only three minutes on Saturday against the Orlando Magic. He will likely play most of the game on Monday and that could help him enter the restart with added confidence.
Cacok likely won’t log much time with the Lakers once the season restarts but Vogel said that he fully trusts him to use him should the need arise. The scrimmage on Monday will serve as an opportunity to knock off some of the rust for him and could help him prepare for the restart.
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