Unused 5-man lineups the Los Angeles Lakers should experiment with

By Jason Reed | Feb 15, 2022

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 05: LeBron James #6 of the Los Angeles Lakers and Anthony Davis #3 of the Los Angeles Lakers in the third quarter at Crypto.com Arena on February 05, 2022 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 Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /

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(Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers /

1. The “LeBron, AD and 3” lineup

Malik Monk, Wayne Ellington, Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Anthony Davis

This is a lineup that forgets about defense and just tries to score 130 points a night. There are defensive holes in this lineup as the trio of Monk, Ellington and Anthony are all below-average defenders. This is not a lineup to put in crunch time, this is a lineup to put in at the start of the second quarter to try and get hot and get the scoring going.

The logic here is to put your two best players on the court in AD and LeBron and simply surround them with shooters. Let the two superstars go to work with their deadly pick and roll game and have open shooters around them to stand at the three-point line and take shots.

This is a version of what the Los Angeles Clippers did last season with all of their three-point shooters. Granted, their shooters are much better defenders than these players but the Lakers have to work with what they have.

This team sacrifices defense to try and score in transition and knock down threes to extend a lead. This lineup can be used against any team that does not have a superstar.

This exact five-man lineup has shared the court twice this season for a combined total of 6.6 minutes of game action.

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