𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

ORLANDO, Fla. — Not all shooting slumps are created equal. And most don’t end like this.

For Luke Kennard, it had been six games since the ball ripped through the nets the way he’s grown accustomed to, the NBA’s best 3-point shooter making only three of his last 14 shots from distance. The dry spell moved his 3-point percentage on the season all the way down to … 48.1 percent.

Still, for a player who was acquired by the Los Angeles Lakers at the trade deadline for his 3-point shooting prowess, the misses, combined with lighter minutes and less impactful play, prompted a meeting between Kennard and his coach, JJ Redick — someone uniquely qualified to help a shooter through a mini-slump.

“I’m hard on myself. I like to chase perfection. Obviously, you’re never going to be perfect, but he just told me to stay with it. I’m here for a reason. I’ve been in the league for a while,” Kennard said. “He told me stories about when he played, going through, like, a slump and how he got out of it. So it’s just good to connect with a guy like that, to have him as your coach. A guy that’s been through it, has played a very similar position to you. Just having a conversation with him to kind of just get out of my head a little bit. Just flush it. The last few games, not playing up to my standards, what I think I should be. And I want to help. I want to make an impact whenever I can.

“He just told me to be yourself and move on from all that. They need me to be aggressive when I’m out there. So I thought it was a really good conversation, and I’m glad we had it. Tonight was really good.”

“Really good” might not do it justice.

On Saturday, Kennard hit the biggest shot of his short Lakers tenure, swishing a game-winning 3 just before the buzzer to beat the Magic 105-104 in Orlando. The shot capped a wild sequence that included score-tying misses from Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves in the last minute, a costly Orlando turnover, a seemingly missed call on a LeBron James shot that could’ve led to overtime-forcing free throws, and a second chance with 2.6 seconds left for Kennard to lift the Lakers to their ninth win in a row.

“We’ve had a number of things happen in the last couple of weeks. We’ve had a number of things happen on this road trip that has shown growth for our group,” Redick said after the game. “We did a good job of just playing through stuff, whether it was some cold shooting, some hot shooting for them, for a little stretch there, getting down, playing on the road. Again, the external circumstances of whatever tonight was, and not allowing that to get us off our game. … We just kept playing.”

Those external circumstances, in the Lakers’ eyes, were the officiating. Despite shooting 29 free throws to Orlando’s 23, Marcus Smart and Dončić were both called for technical fouls. The Lakers lost a challenge early in the game when Wendell Carter Jr. ran into Reaves in a violent collision, with Reaves charged for the foul. On a potential score-tying layup, Paolo Banchero appeared to make contact with James’ arms after hitting the ball (while James still had control of the basketball). Players up and down the roster were unhappy with officiating decisions throughout the game — the kind of thing that’s caused the Lakers to fold in the past.

But Saturday, despite their perceived disadvantages, the Lakers kept fighting, figuring out ways to extend their longest winning streak since the 2019-20 season.

“We’ve done it in different ways,” Reaves said. “We’ve won ugly games where it wasn’t great offensively. Won it with our defense, and then we’ve dominated some games offensively. But just getting a rhythm, playing alongside one another, having fun and getting wins.”

Dončić led the Lakers with 33 points, and Reaves had 26, with James scoring 12 to go with six rebounds, four assists and three steals on the night he set the NBA’s record for most regular-season games played.

But it was Kennard’s 13 points off the bench that showed he’d broken out of his minor funk. With the Lakers down two, assistant coach Greg St. Jean drew up an out-of-bounds play with James cutting to the basket as the primary option. Kennard’s defender followed James into the paint as the 3-point ace floated back behind the line, where he made eye contact with Marcus Smart, the inbounder.

“As soon as I popped back, it felt like we were staring at each other,” Kennard said. “And it was a perfect pass.”

Wide open, Kennard calmly swished the jumper with 0.6 seconds left.

“As soon as he caught it and then released it, yeah, everybody knew it was in,” Redick said. “We all had that perfect angle.”

Orlando’s desperation shot at the buzzer fell well short, and Kennard was mobbed at midcourt.

“I didn’t really know what was going on, I was just screaming,” Kennard said. “I remember somebody, I don’t know who it was, somebody picked me up. But it was really cool. It’s a cool moment. Haven’t had many like that in the NBA, I don’t think. I’ve had maybe a couple game winners or whatever, but it means a lot how excited everybody was. I felt that. And again, just to win a game like that is pretty special and just shows what we have in the locker room.”

For Kennard, whom the Lakers acquired for Gabe Vincent and a future second-round pick, the shot reaffirmed he’s with the right group of teammates at the right time in his career.

“It feels good. Just being part of a new team, obviously, you’re building new relationships, trying to find your role, what you do,” he said. “But they brought me here for a reason, and that was to shoot. And it feels good.”