With everyone available for LA’s game against Utah on Tuesday, head coach JJ Redick was able to use his ideal starting five for the first time this season.
He opted to go with LeBron James, Luka Dončić,
Austin Reaves, Deandre Ayton and Rui Hachimura. The lineup played for 11.8 minutes, the most of any Lakers five-man grouping in the game and had a plus-minus of -3.
After the win, Redick gave his opinion on his starters.
“It was good,” Redick said. “There were stretches that I thought it was really good. There were stretches that I didn’t think it was great. We’re going to make decisions based on how the team is playing and how the groups work together. I’m not like beholden to one thing throughout the season, but I feel comfortable with that lineup. They played a ton of minutes together at the end of last season, minus [Ayton]. So, we’ll continue to build on that.”
Lakers fans have been debating about the best starting five for this year’s team since the summer. For now, we have Redick’s first answer on what that is. As he mentioned after the game, it’s written in pencil, not pen. As he gets more data and players either play better or worse, he will adjust accordingly.
Also, while everyone is healthy now, injuries are bound to happen. Redick went 14 games without using this lineup because it wasn’t available to him. So maybe what matters more is optimizing all your rotation players and having many lineups you like, rather than just focusing on the first five.
Still, the starters against the Jazz played together more than any other lineup, so who that is does matter. The biggest spot that gets discussed when it comes to LA’s starters is whether Hachimura or someone else should get that fifth spot.
The case for Rui is that he is the best offensive player on this team behind only LeBron, Austin and Luka. He is shooting 48.1% from 3-point range, which helps with the team’s spacing and at 6’8, he gives you some nice size as well.
However, Hachimura’s defense and rebounding leave much to be desired, so some like the idea of adding Marcus Smart to the starting lineup to provide a more balanced unit and an elite perimeter defender.
Smart has one of the best plus-minuses on the team at +58. The only player who has a higher one is Reaves at +80.
Whether you like or hate Redick’s starting five, he’s made it clear it’s subject to change. Results, performance and the injury report will all play a role in who starts.
We’ll see how this new starting five plays in their rematch against the Jazz on Sunday, or if Redick is already going to make changes to it.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
