Malik Monk is on fire again, but he needs to stay consistent

Malik Monk’s late-December and early-January breakout has been somewhat surprising for the fifth-year guard. But he’s experienced hot streaks during his NBA career before. The real surprise was that Los Angeles was Monk’s only real option in free agency.

He enjoyed a blistering stretch of games last February, where he averaged 16.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists for the month. He finally broke into the Charlotte rotation and turned heads around the league.

Due to a few injuries and never being able to find his footing after being sidelined for most of last April, Monk fizzled out. Teams seemed to forget about Monk’s excellent February and March in the offseason. Even the Hornets moved on, drafting a score-first wing in the first round to seemingly replace Monk.

He recently revealed that very few NBA teams pursued him in free agency. “Nobody really wanted me besides the Lakers,” he said. Even though many NBA fans viewed his one-year, $1.7 million deal to be a steal for LA.

A steal it has been, particularly of late. The first few months of the 2021-22 season weren’t consistent for Monk, or the Lakers as a whole for that matter. He would explode with games of 20 points or more, but for the most part, struggled with shooting the ball consistently and defending at an appropriate level for a team that prides itself on being elite at that end.

Then, like half of the NBA, Monk landed in COVID health and safety protocols for a few weeks. His first game out was Christmas, and Monk returned to February 2021 form almost immediately. Since Christmas, Monk is scoring an even 20 points a game.

His three-point stroke is powering the hot streak. Monk is shooting over 50% from the field during this few-week stretch and is making 47.5% of his threes while taking 7.4 attempts per game; making him one of the most lethal shooters in the NBA as of late.

Lakers coach Frank Vogel has lauded Monk: “he’s playing really well in all ways offensively. Creating for others, shooting catch-and-shoot threes, attacking the basket, scoring in the midrange and really competing on the defensive end.”

Monk earned his coach’s trust, evidenced not just by Vogel’s comments, but that he’s playing over 33 minutes a night for a team contending for the championship.

30 minutes a game are starter-level minutes; major rotation player minutes. Not just this year, but throughout his career, when he plays 30+ minutes, he’s typically very good. His numbers bear it out:

In games over his NBA career where he’s played 30 or more minutes, Monk is scoring 20.5 points and grabbing 4.2 rebounds a game. He shoots 48% on threes and over 50% from the field. His true shooting percentage in those games is 67%, which would put him at fifth-highest of any player this NBA season in the metric, and by far the best guard.

I mentioned that earlier in the season — and throughout his whole career — consistency is his Achilles heel. Whether that is staying on the court consistently or producing on the court consistently. Malik Monk simply hasn’t been a productive and available player over the course of an entire NBA season.

He has stretches of solid performances and hot shooting nights. The flashes are worthy of a longer-term investment. But the lack of consistency is why only one team gave him a shot this summer. For Monk, this stretch of games needs to become a season.

He has the best opportunity of his career in LA. The team is good, LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook absorb most of the press. Monk is able to play off three future Hall-of-Famers and hit threes while making an effort in the other areas of the game. So long as he stays on the court and shoots as he has, this will finally be the summer a multi-year deal comes his way.