A surprising Lakers lineup that could play important minutes this season

The Los Angeles Lakers rebuilt the roster during the 2023 trade deadline and that resulted in the team making a run all the way to the Western Conference Finals. Los Angeles carried that momentum over into the offseason and brought back the key members of last season’s core while also making savvy additions on top of that core.

As a result, the Lakers have one of the deepest rosters in the league and the team is one of the premier title contenders heading into the 2023-24 season. This is the best chance Los Angeles has had to win an NBA Championship since the 2020-21 season, which ended prematurely because of an Anthony Davis injury.

It isn’t always going to be dominant for the Lake Show, though. Head coach Darvin Ham is going to have to figure out what works best for this roster and there may be some speedbumps along the way. Ham is not going to master the rotation in the first week of the season. It is going to take some time.

That is especially true with all of the different options that Ham has at his disposal. With so much talent there are various different combinations the Lakers can throw on the court at any given time. Some may end up surprising fans and there is one in particular that could play a big role.

• D’Angelo Russell
• Gabe Vincent
• Austin Reaves
• LeBron James
• Anthony Davis

Darvin Ham could keep throwing out three-guard lineups for the Lakers.

Los Angeles has more avenues to take this season than last season but we could still see similar tendencies from Ham. Ham loved running three-guard lineups last season, which is something that frustrated fans who wanted to see more size.

The Lakers certainly have a lot of size to throw at opposing teams this upcoming season but we could see Ham resort back to his old ways and throw out a smaller lineup depending on the situation.

This lineup obviously has its pros and cons. On one hand, this lineup would seriously help the Lakers’ floor spacing with LeBron and Davis in the frontcourt. Russell, Vincent and Reaves all have to be respected from beyond the arc and will benefit from the gravity that LeBron and AD have.

On the other hand, there are real defensive question marks with this five. Russell and Reaves are below-average defenders and Vincent is serviceable if best. At his age LeBron isn’t playing lockdown D in the regular season, leaving Davis as the only plus defender in this group.

This is a lineup that we could see LA throw out against a team like the Golden State Warriors who do not have a lot of size. It might sound horrendous now but Ham has already shown the fanbase that he likes these three-guard lineups, so it is certainly a possibility.