Los Angeles Lakers guard Troy Daniels is battling a sore left knee and underwent an MRI on Monday. Fortunately, the MRI was negative and there is a chance he will be able to play tonight in Phoenix against the Suns. The sharp-shooting Daniels–who LeBron James dubbed “layup” because his threes are like layups–connected on 3-of-5 field goals from beyond the arc during Sunday’s loss to the Toronto Raptors while finishing with 11 points in 17 minutes.
Daniels knocked down 4-of-8 triples during the Lakers first win of the season against the Utah Jazz, but went relatively cold from distance since then prior to breaking out on Sunday. According to Mike Trudell of Spectrum Sports, Daniels will enter tonight’s matchup against his former team as questionable on the injury report.
The MRI on the left knee of Troy Daniels was negative. He is questionable to play at Phoenix on Tuesday with the sore knee. Daniels hit 3 3’s off the bench in Sunday’s loss to Toronto.
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) November 12, 2019
Whether he is able to go tonight or not, Daniels is one of the long-range shooters Los Angeles will need more consistency from as the season continues. In order to open up driving lanes for LeBron and others, L.A. will need to shoot it better than the 31.1% from deep that currently has them ranked No. 27 in the league in 3-point shooting as a team. Daniels is a 39.8% 3-point shooter for his career who is only connecting on 31% of his triples through these first nine games of the season. During the 2017-18 campaign with Phoenix he shot 40% from deep and last season with the Suns he connected on 38.1% of his triples.
The Lakers will meet an overachieving Phoenix squad tonight who has been the surprise of the NBA thus far. While off to a 6-3 start, the Suns are shooting 38.4% from deep which has them ranked No. 5 in the NBA in 3-point efficiency. Devin Booker is leading the way for Phoenix with 25.8 points and 5.4 assists per night. The veteran Ricky Rubio, meanwhile, is averaging 13.6 points, 8.6 assists and 6.8 rebounds.
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