For the better part of the past decade, the Los Angeles Lakers’ draft and scouting department has done an outstanding job of identifying talent at all different stages of the draft. One of their more forgotten selections was center Ivica Zubac, whom they selected 32nd overall in the 2016 NBA Draft.
The Lakers ended up trading Zubac to the L.A. Clippers midway through his second season and he has since grown into one of the NBA’s top centers, coming off a career year in which he led the league in total rebounds and finished fourth in rebounds per game.
Even though he has been with the Clippers for seven seasons now, Zubac still has some great memories from his time with the Lakers. Most notably was when he got the opportunity to work out with Lakers legend and, arguably the greatest center of all-time, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, via NBA report Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson:
“It was fun, man! I couldn’t believe that it was happening to me. That was the first thing,” Zubac recalled, lighting up. “I worked out with the Lakers with Bill Bertka, and he’s been with the Lakers for 50-60 years! He’s 90-something, so he’s worked out with Wilt, Kareem, Shaq…you know? All those bigs. One day he invited Kareem to a workout to show me a couple things, and that was fun. It was really something. I couldn’t believe it — it was my rookie year and I couldn’t believe that was happening.”
Zubac would go into detail about the workout, saying that he and Abdul-Jabbar worked on the skyhook and he continues to work on that shot to this day:
“We worked on the skyhook a lot. It was all about that hook shot!” Zubac said. “I learned a lot from him. I use that hook shot every game. I work on it every day. I’m trying to perfect it and have one of the best hooks in the league. And that one left-handed hook shot? I’m still working on that, but it’s all about that hook shot. I learned a lot, and in the workout, he shot a couple. It was so smooth, and it was crazy!”
With the Lakers now in the market for a center, it hurts to remember that they had the perfect option in-house already with Zubac, but chose to trade him away early in his career. Regardless, it is great to see Zubac still applying the things he learned from a Lakers legend to great success.
Rockets trying to keep potential Lakers free agency target Steven Adams
One potential option for the Lakers in the center market this offseason is veteran Steven Adams, who is coming off a resurgent year with the Houston Rockets. But his current team is not looking to lose him this summer.
A recent report said that retaining Adams is arguably the Rockets’ top priority and they will continue to speak to his representatives about a possible extension.
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