Los Angeles Lakers: 3 players who are on the bubble of the playoff rotation

3. JaVale McGee

It may seem odd that a player that has been the starting center for the Los Angeles Lakers for virtually the entirety of the season has the potential to miss out on being in the playoff rotation.

Allow me to explain.

With the shortening of the lineup come playoff time, the Lakers are going to minimize the personnel they use on a game to game basis. With the likes of superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis, they will play huge minutes come playoff time and they will well and truly earn the millions they are earning during this period of time.

With the Lakers using Davis and LeBron so much it could possibly force JaVale McGee out of the rotation due to Davis’ ability to play center.

Davis during his time in the NBA has been incredibly effective at the 5 spot and odds are that the Lakers will look to use him a significant amount at Center and power forward come playoffs.

JaVale has the potential to back-up Davis at the center spot when Davis is off the floor, but there is a real possibility that Coach Frank Vogel might lean on the chemistry between Dwight Howard and Anthony Davis when it comes to the forward rotation.

While McGee has been the starter for the Lakers, it is arguable that Howard has been more impressive both on offense and defense. With Howard, you have a higher IQ player than McGee who has been there and done that and who has performed at the highest level.

With Howard, you get a former 3-time defensive player of the year, Howard is also used to playing a lot of his minutes off the bench this season, coming off the bench in a playoff series will not be anything new and he has proven to be impactful in limited minutes.

There is a real chance that McGee makes the playoff rotation but it wouldn’t surprise if he were to miss out. It might all depend on how each of the bigs plays towards the end of the season, the rotation spot could be on a knives edge.