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Los Angeles Lakers roster: Predicting the opening night rotation

By Jason Reed

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 12: LeBron James #6 of the Los Angeles Lakers during the second half of a preseason basketball game against Golden State Warriors at Staples Center on October 12, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 12: LeBron James #6 of the Los Angeles Lakers during the second half of a preseason basketball game against Golden State Warriors at Staples Center on October 12, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers
(Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers /

Los Angeles Lakers opening night is finally here as fans get to watch the return of meaningful Lakers basketball. The Lakers roster is much different than what it was the last time fans saw the Lakers in meaningful action as the team reloaded for another potential NBA Championship run.

Since we have only seen this team in the preseason we do not really know exactly what the rotation is going to look like until we see it in action. While things will vary based on the game and who is healthy, this first game will give us a decent idea of the roles that each player will play in 2021.

While we do not yet know for certain, we do have some predictions for the rotation and how many minutes each player gets against the Golden State Warriors.

Los Angeles Lakers roster: Predicting the Lakers opening night rotation

The obvious starters

The superstar trio of LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook are obviously going to start and it is the other two starting spots that are up in the air.

While we know that this trio will start, we have no idea the kind of minutes Frank Vogel will give each player this early in the season. The idea is to keep everyone on the team fresh but the team is going to want to start the year in the win column by playing its best players.

LeBron will likely be handled with kid gloves early on while Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook get bigger minutes. This will be the trend throughout the season as one of the main reasons for acquiring Westbrook was to take some of the regular-season load off of LeBron.

LeBron will start playing more minutes as the year goes along. No point in pushing it on game one.

  • LeBron James minutes prediction: 30
  • Russell Westbrook minutes prediction: 32
  • Anthony Davis minutes prediction: 35

There are 240 total minutes to allocate to the Los Angeles Lakers roster, 94 of which are taken up by the big three. That leaves us with 146 minutes to split between the rest of the team.

First, let’s dive into who the other two starters will likely be and how much they should play.

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