When the Los Angeles Lakers signed Collin Sexton, their offseason vision began to come into focus. Los Angeles has invested in Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves as a ball-dominant perimeter pairing, with Quentin Grimes joining them as a potentially featured 3-and-D wing.
What Sexton operates as in that headlining act is the shot creator and playmaker who can ensure that Los Angeles has the balance they need to substitute a star off without losing their structure as a team.
Every player in that quartet of guards and wings has a specific role to play. Doncic is the ball-dominant No. 1 at the heart of a heliocentric offense, while Reaves is his high-usage No. 2 who must balance shot creation, playmaking, and off-ball scoring to provide the necessary support.
Grimes, meanwhile, is a borderline elite guard defender who ranked in the 87th percentile in perimeter isolation defense in 2025-26, per Basketball Index, and shot 38.3 percent on catch-and-shoot threes.
That all seems to create the potential for symbiosis, particularly with Grimes' 2025-26 average of 4.0 assists per 36 minutes suggesting he can help as a playmaker. The key to making this group work, however, is creating substitution patterns that sustain a high level of play when at least one star comes off the court.
That's where Sexton is uniquely qualified to be plugged in for either Doncic or Reaves and preventing Grimes from overexerting himself on offense when one of the stars is sitting.
Lakers' perimeter relies on Collin Sexton to maintain a specific structure
Sexton isn't the same caliber of scorer or playmaker as Doncic, but few can realistically claim to be. What he is, however, is a high-volume scorer who maintains tremendous efficiency in both on and off-ball roles while offering strong value as a playmaker.
Look no further for proof than the fact that, over the past three seasons, Sexton has averaged 24.2 points and 5.7 assists per 36 minutes on .484/.400/.860 shooting.
As such, Sexton can be plugged in with any combination of the aforementioned players. Alongside Doncic, for instance, Sexton can provide tremendous off-ball value having shot 44.7 percent on catch-and-shoot threes in 2023-24, 43.8 percent in 2024-25, and 44.5 percent in 2025-26.
Next to Grimes, a catch-and-shoot specialist who has something to prove as a shot creator, Sexton averaging 14.3 drives and 8.9 points via drives per 36 minutes on 51.7 percent shooting in 2025-26 comes into play.
The pairing that may ultimately define the Lakers' backcourt depth is Reaves and Sexton. They're likely to share the court when Doncic isn't present to avoid cold stretches on offense, and Sexton's ability to produce in similar areas as the No. 1 could at least give Reaves the stability he needs in terms of playing a sustainable role.
Sexton will play an important part as an individual whose scoring and playmaking can swing the momentum of games, but it's the way he fits within the Lakers' structure that will keep their balancing act level.
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