Lakers’ Kendall Marshall among NBA leaders in assists and shooting

It’s unclear how long Kendall Marshall will remain the starting point guard for the Lakers.

Steve Nash (back), Steve Blake (elbow) and Jordan Farmar (hamstring) are all trying to work their way back from injury.

In the meantime, the Lakers’ NBA Development League call-up has impressed in 16 appearances, especially in 12 starts.

Marshall is currently the league’s second-best three-point shooter at 48.5%, behind the 49.3% of San Antonio’s Marco Belinelli. Atlanta’s Kyle Korver is tied for third with New Orleans’ Anthony Morrow at 46.2%.

While the sample size is small, Marshall is also second in the league with 9.6 assists a game, second only to the Clippers’ Chris Paul (11.2).

Marshall’s first four games were for 13.5 minutes a night off the bench. Taking into account his 12 starts, at 38.8 minutes a game, Marshall is averaging 11.9 assists a night.

Golden State’s Stephen Curry is third overall at 9.3 assists a game.

As a team, the Lakers haven’t won many games with Marshall at point guard but the team has lost five of their top guards.

Whether he’s pushed to the bench or remains the starter, Marshall’s minutes will eventually shrink significantly, given the Lakers have three veterans at his position.

He could even find himself out of the rotation completely, but for now he’s making the most of his opportunity as starting point guard for the Lakers, even if it’s a down year for the franchise.

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Email Eric Pincus at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @EricPincus.