Magic Johnson Reveals Why Jared Dudley on the Bench is So Important for Los Angeles Lakers Right Now

Jared Dudley signed up for the Los Angeles Lakers at the start of the 2019-20 season. The coronavirus put a screeching halt to the NBA, just when Dudley and the Lakers were playing in a grand manner.

The Lakers are atop the Western Conference and Dudley was hoping to win the first title in his career. He has only made brief appearances for the side this season, but plays his heart out whenever he comes on. This motivation, from every player in the roster, is the reason the Lakers have been so good to watch this year. 

Jared Dudley appreciates Magic Johnson’s comments on him

Dudley, who has been a bench-warmer for most parts of the season, has no shame in being so. He is happy to contribute to the team in the best way the organization sees fit. And his recent activity on social media is proof of that. 

LA Times Sports Columnist, Arash Markazi had posted an update on Twitter quoting Magic Johnson from his written piece. The five-time NBA champion informed Markazi how players like Jared Dudley are key for the squad, if the season resumes without fans.

“The guys sitting on the bench have to be jumping up, hollering and screaming and giving them some juice. Those guys are going to be more important than they have ever been before if there are no fans.”

Magic further validated his comments by saying, “Players play pick-up games with no fans. They scrimmage without fans. They play in the summer with no fans. We’re already used to playing with no fans.”

Jared Dudley loved the fact that Johnson had mentioned his name in being a key member of the squad. He reshared the post to his account and stated how Magic Johnson spoke big facts. 

Are there any leads on the NBA coming back?

As of now, no, there isn’t. The league should keep an open mind when it holds a discussion on the resumption of the league. As the situation keeps getting worse because of the pandemic, the league is getting postponed by the day. No one really knows when it will come back again. 

The players are now open to the idea of playing without fans, when not long back they were all against it. It has been over two months since the league hosted a game, and everybody wants some action of the NBA soon.

However, the league will carefully analyze the situation and announce their decision about how it will move forward with the rest of the regular-season games. Above all, health and well-being is the priority, and everyone should take that up in their minds. 

Once the league resumes and the situation is contained, one can hope for the games to be extremely competitive owing to the fact that the players’ physical recovery would have been boosted from not playing for a very long time.