{"id":512862,"date":"2026-01-03T00:47:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T00:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/512862\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T00:47:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T00:47:20","slug":"las-unexpected-leader-emerges-amid-fluctuating-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/512862\/","title":{"rendered":"LA\u2019s unexpected leader emerges amid fluctuating role"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2013 The Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> have battled a wave of injury issues through the first couple of months of the regular season, resulting in fluctuating roles for some of the players<\/a> on the roster. One of those players this season has been veteran backup big man Maxi Kleber<\/a> who has stepped into a role as a leader no matter what his role on the court has been.<\/p>\n

Throughout this season, Maxi Kleber\u2019s playing time has fluctuated with the Lakers, but he\u2019s maintained his presence as a dependable leader, especially amid the team\u2019s recent struggles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all have a responsibility to lead. It\u2019s a team sport so everybody has a part in it,\u201d Kleber said during a recent Lakers\u2019 shootaround. \u201cObviously not everybody\u2019s going to take the same shots, not everybody has the same minutes or whatever. Everybody\u2019s got to know your role and you got to be your best.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to support the team in whatever way it is. And for me, that\u2019s just staying ready, playing hard, making the simple plays in the right place, setting screens, all that stuff,\u201d Kleber continued. \u201cWhen it comes to being a teammate, you just want to make sure you cheer your teammates up. When you see something, you tell them, you just support each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kleber was initially acquired by the Lakers as part of the blockbuster Luka Doncic trade with the Dallas Mavericks. He did not appear in any regular season games as he recovered from a foot injury. Kleber\u2019s 2025-26 season debut was delayed<\/a> due to both a quad injury and an oblique injury.<\/p>\n

Despite multiple setbacks, Kleber has emerged at times as a key backup amid the team\u2019s injuries. He played a pivotal role in the Lakers\u2019 road win against the Utah Jazz<\/a> on Nov. 23. Kleber came up with a key bucket late in the fourth quarter, then made the game-winning defensive play with a good contest on Keyonte George\u2019s 3-point attempt that would have won the game.<\/p>\n

This season, Kleber has appeared in 16 games at just about 12 minutes per game. He\u2019s averaged 1.8 points and 1.7 rebounds, but Lakers head coach JJ Redick trusts him due to his defensive ability and surprising toughness. There have been a couple of games this season when Kleber has come to his teammates\u2019 defense<\/a> after physical plays.<\/p>\n

With the Lakers\u2019 hitting a rough patch where they\u2019ve lost four of their last five games, Kleber explained what it will take to get back on track.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best way to handle a situation like that is just going back to the basics. Sticking with the habits that you created as a team, working on the simple things,\u201d Kleber said. \u201cObviously there will be ups and downs, it\u2019s just part of sports. But we just got to make sure that we get back in line with the basics. It\u2019s the effort plays, it\u2019s playing together and just having each other\u2019s back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2013 The Los Angeles Lakers have battled a wave of injury issues through the first couple…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512863,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3790],"tags":[7,4034,1698,300,4044,251,150,4033,4043,3000,6,2144],"class_list":{"0":"post-512862","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-lakers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-la","10":"tag-la-lakers","11":"tag-lakers","12":"tag-lalakers","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-losangeleslakers","17":"tag-maxi-kleber","18":"tag-nba","19":"tag-reporting"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115828414522741026","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}