Maxi Kleber, who underwent surgery after breaking his right foot in late January, has been medically cleared to make his Lakers debut, according to Khobi Price of The Orange County Register (Twitter link). Coach J.J. Redick confirmed Kleber’s status while meeting with reporters before Game 5 against Minnesota.
Kleber was acquired from Dallas in February as part of the massive Luka Doncic trade. He appeared in 34 games with the Mavs before the injury, making four starts and averaging 3.0 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 18.7 minutes per night with .385/.265/.762 shooting numbers.
Kleber was a standout in Europe before signing with Dallas as a free agent in 2017. He spent seven and a half seasons with the Mavericks, playing in 440 total games before being shipped to L.A.
The 33-year-old big man hasn’t seen any game action since suffering the injury in a January 25 contest against Boston. He has been making steady progress toward a return and was cleared for on-court activities early this month.
Kleber is making $11MM this season and has one year left on his contract at the same amount before becoming an unrestricted free agent next summer. He could help provide an answer to the Lakers’ ongoing problem with frontcourt depth if he’s fully healthy for the start of next season.
Lakers been cooked ever since Mark Williams landed back in Charlotte but that German Eurobasket squad looking real strong. Hopefully Mo Wagner is healthy by then too… link to m.youtube.com
As a Lakers fan I was happy that trade didn’t go through. I know it hurts then this year but the Luka trade was made for the future and they can work on improving their front court in the off-season. Knecht, Reddish, and their last tradeable 1st rounder seemed like a steep price for somebody who has only played in about 40% of possible games.
Knecht, Cam & that 1st would be a small price to pay if MWilliams would have helped them win the West this season (or any season). And he definitely would have made this a much better team. As currently constructed they had a slim chance if any to win a playoff series. To go into a postseason like that when LeBron is 40yrs old is egregiously bad front office management in my opinion. Obviously Mark Williams was healthy enough to play this postseason & every game the Lakers would’ve needed him in the regular season. If they plan to have guys like Luka & Reaves playing major minutes then they gotta get an elite paint protector. Not having one means they’re cooked.
lol maxi being first off the bench. Fire JJ Reddick and hire a real coach, not a podcaster.
Lakers should have kept mark williams.
All about next year ……. Lakers won one more game than Mavs. And Lakers had a full team…… Yeah
If you woulda told me at the beginning of April…..if you woulda told me the Lakers would not be playing ANY games beginning in the month of May…..I woulda…..I woulda told you……(oh man)……YES!!!!!!!!!!😧🙉🤩🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳
You coulda used AD tonight, right PESTINKA??? Over-ray-ted..Rob Puh- stink-uh..over-ray-ted..Rob Puh-stink-uh..over-ray-ted..just like the baby GOAT..OVER-RAY-TED
Oh yeah, Harvin Dam would’ve managed much better
Ding dong the witch is dead, lol.
Fire your coach. Fire him for Maxi’s sake.
And wow, Luka was such a huge defensive liability. They traded the one player that would’ve won them the series.
Nah man, LeBron is still in L.A.
Lakers would have gone further with AD. Not a title, but they definitely would have made it past round one.
LeBron is the worst superstar who ever lived
Luka was the problem this series not LeBron. They literally went after Luka every possession this last game. He might score 40, but he gives up 50.
Alex Len when TJ Warren is out there.