The Lakers finally got their full team healthy for the first time this season, but that lasted all of one-and-a-half games.
Deandre Ayton’s injury halted the team’s chance to finally see their starting five together, but it appears to only be a short-term absence as head coach JJ Redick said he expects the big man back by the end of the week.
With Ayton out, the Lakers have turned to Maxi Kleber for minutes and he’s responded with strong outings against both the Jazz and the Clippers. He isn’t someone
who will impact the game statistically, but he will certainly leave an imprint on the game.
Interestingly, with LeBron back and even with Ayton sidelined, Jarred Vanderbilt has fallen completely out of the rotation. After getting over a dozen games to make his case, Redick has, at least for now, pulled the plug on Vando. As talented as he may be defensively, his offensive shortcomings made it difficult to play him alongside a non-spacing big.
We also have a pretty defined rotation now, which makes this a pretty easy week to trim down who to vote on.
Starters: Luka Dončić, Austin Reaves, LeBron James, Rui Hachimura, Deandre Ayton
Jaxson Hayes
Hayes has stepped in as the starter for Ayton, but with it sounding like Ayton could be back on Friday against the Mavericks, we’ll keep Hayes in the reserves section. He hasn’t had prolific statistical games either against Utah or the Clippers, but he has been dependable.
Maxi Kleber
The newest addition to the rotation, Kleber hasn’t done anything necessarily spectacular, but he’s been a dependable veteran who knows where to be and the right play to make. In a lineup that often features at least two of Luka, Austin and LeBron, being a high IQ connecting player is a valuable skill.
Marcus Smart
Rui’s play hasn’t been bad enough to warrant making a starting lineup change and Redick and the coaching staff still appear to be in the process of gaining a sample size with the current starting lineup. However, nothing Smart has done this season has taken away from the notion or belief that he’d be a solid fit in the starting lineup.
Jake LaRavia
At times, I tend to think of LaRavia as someone who is a bit more of a polished product who should be producing at a higher level. However, he’s actually younger than Dalton Knecht. The only players younger on the regular roster are Bronny James and Adou Thiero.
If you change the perspective on how you view him, then the Lakers are getting solid contributions from a young player that certainly feels like someone who could stick around for a while.
Gabe Vincent
While taking into account that Kleber will likely exit the rotation once Ayton returns, I view Vincent’s spot as the next weakest. It doesn’t feel like he does enough different things from other players in the rotation to warrant continuing to get minutes.
However, the players out of the rotation also have weaknesses, too. The Lakers don’t really need more offense, which would be the argument against Dalton Knecht. We’ve discussed Vando’s offensive shortcomings. Bronny seems to lack the confidence offensively right now to warrant minutes.
This is basically my argument for giving Adou Thiero some minutes to at least get a sense of what he can do.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on BlueSky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
