Los Angeles Lakers: Which players make up the best lineup right now?

The Los Angeles Lakers have been using a ton of lineups thus far this season. Which players make up the best lineup? We examine it here!

When it comes to answering the question of what the best starting lineup is for this Los Angeles Lakers team, there are a number of questions we have to consider.

What’s the best combination of skillsets? Which lineup has the most shooting? Who can defend multiple positions and be effective as an off-ball player?

All of these questions culminate in the most important question for the Lakers, who are the best fits alongside LeBron James?

To understand what is the best starting lineup for the Lakers, let’s first take a look at the top five most-used lineups so far this season.

*all stats courtesy of NBA.com*

1.) Ball, Ingram, LeBron, Kuzma, McGee – 182 MIN/109.1 OFFRTG/103.8 DEFRTG/5.3 NETRTG

2.) Ball, Hart, LeBron, Kuzma, McGee – 56 MIN/107.1 OFFRTG/96.1 DEFRTG/11.0 NETRTG

3.) Ball, Hart, Stephenson, Kuzma, LeBron – 28 MIN/93.8 OFFRTG/118.5 DEFRTG/-24.6 NETRTG

4.) Rondo, Pope, Ingram, LeBron, McGee – 26 MIN/98.5 OFFRTG/98.4 DEFRTG/0 NETRTG

5.) Ball, Ingram, LeBron, Kuzma, Chandler – 30 MIN/93.1 OFFRTG/91.4 DEFRTG/1.6 NETRTG

As you can see, there’s a large gap in terms of minutes between the first and second most used lineups, and the difference in NetRtg between the two is just as big. The difference between these two lineups? Josh Hart.

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With Josh Hart at the 2-guard in place of Brandon Ingram, the Lakers have a 13-point increase in Defensive Rating, while maintaining the same Offensive Rating. It’s hard to ignore that kind of increase in defensive efficiency, and it’s something that Luke Walton has to consider.

For LeBron James and the Lakers, it’s all about maximizing what LeBron can bring to the table and Josh Hart is the prototypical player that compliments LeBron’s skill set. He can defend multiple positions, hit the 3-ball, shooting a red-hot 42 percent from three this year, and doesn’t need the ball in his hands to be effective.

Add in Lonzo Ball, whose a good defensive player, and a willing ball-mover, and Kyle Kuzma, who is a knockdown shooter and can stretch the floor at the power forward spot and you have the beginnings of the optimal starting lineup around LeBron.

JaVale McGee is the last piece of this puzzle and provides LeBron with a lob threat, as well as a defensive presence in the paint, averaging 2.6 blocks per game and a 64 eFG%.

The question that arises out of this is what to do with Brandon Ingram?

Brandon Ingram can be best described as a ball-handling point forward and is at his best when he’s consistently given the chance to create for himself and others. Those skills are diminished when he shares the floor with LeBron, so his skills can be put to better use if he were to move to a 6th man role and become the primary initiator in that capacity.

Moving Ingram to the bench also allows him to slot back into his natural position of small forward where he’ll be able to better use his physical tools on defense. When defending smaller, quicker guards, Ingram is being caught flat-footed due to his long legs, allowing his man to get by him with relative ease.

For the time being, it would appear that the best starting lineup for the Lakers is Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, LeBron James, Kyle Kuzma, and JaVale McGee, with Brandon Ingram as a 6th man, leading the second unit.