Skip to main content

The Lakers head into Monday night with a losing record and facing off against a very good Jazz team. Utah comes into Los Angeles with a 28-14 record and holding the number 4 seed in the Western Conference. 

But the Lakers should have Stanley Johnson back on board once again. The Athletic's Shams Charania reported on Sunday night that the team is expected to bring him back on another 10-day contract, the third time they've done that this season. 

It's been a pretty uneventful month of games for Johnson in terms of offensive production. He's averaging just 15.6 minutes per game in January and putting up 3.2 points. But it's on defense where the Lakers really like his effort and ability to keep guys locked down. 

The highlight of that was obviously on Christmas Day when Johnson kept the Lakers in the game by guarding James Harden. But with another 10-day contract, Los Angeles has the flexibility to make a decision on his long-term future, at least for this season. 

With the February trade deadline looming, it will be interesting to see what direction the Lakers will go. But it seems like at this point, they will not be comfortable continuing with the current roster that they have set up.

Expect Rob Pelinka to be very busy in the coming weeks.