Lakers get another look at a potential starting lineup
LOS ANGELES ❯❯ Lakers coach Darvin Ham still hasn't revealed who the team's fifth starter will be when the regular season starts in 1 1/2 weeks, but Friday night's preseason home game against the Golden State Warriors gave another look at two potential groups.
LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Austin Reaves, who were back in the lineup after sitting out Wednesday's victory over the Sacramento Kings, started alongside D'Angelo Russell and Taurean Prince.
James, Davis, Reaves and Russell are already known starters, with the final spot remaining a mystery. But Prince was once again the fifth starter like he was in Monday's win against the Brooklyn Nets in Las Vegas — the only other time all four known starters have been available, with Friday being James' second preseason game.
The plan is for James to play in at least half of the team's preseason games — so he'll likely play in either Sunday night's game against the Milwaukee Bucks at Crypto.com Arena or Thursday's preseason finale against the Phoenix Suns at Acrisure Arena near Palm Springs.
When asked pregame if he planned to use any of the preseason games as an actual dress rehearsal, Ham responded “somewhat.”
“I mean, we came in with an initial plan before any of these games got started and we're trying to stick to it,” Ham added. “It's been kind of difficult to get everyone there at the same time. But we've been able to get some great stuff done at practice and our scrimmaging and doing different breakdown work with our main guys.
“We feel like we're in a good place continuity-wise and so just sticking to a plan that was already set up before we got into the actual preseason gameplay. I feel good about where it's headed. Probably by the last one, we'll be able to get close to seeing — well, we'll be able to see what we plan to do as we go forward into the regular season.”
Prince, Rui Hachimura or Jarred Vanderbilt is expected to claim the last starting spot.
The Lakers also got a look at Hachimura alongside the other four starters to close the second quarter.
Vanderbilt, a starter during the Lakers' run to the Western Conference finals last spring, was sidelined for the third consecutive game because of left heel soreness. Ham previously said he doesn't expect the injury to force Vanderbilt to miss the start of the regular season.
Cam Reddish also missed his third consecutive game because of right ankle soreness. Gabe Vincent sat because of back tightness, with Ham saying “it's just precautionary.”
“We just wanted to let it calm down a little bit,” Ham added. “When you play deep into June, those things are going to happen a little bit – those soft tissue issues. But he's good. It's just something we wanted to be proactive about and allow him to rest it for the night.”
Friday was also Reaves' second preseason game. The Lakers have been easing Reaves into the group after he played for Team USA in the FIBA World Cup, with the Americans' last game being on Sept. 10.
“I feel great,” Reaves said. “Anytime I can get out there and play I'm happy. But I'll stick to the script and I know I had a long summer playing with the USA team and had to trust the process of sitting down and relaxing a little bit.”
Reaves said he wasn't completely sure how many more preseason games he'll play in after Friday.
“We'll just sit down every day and talk as a collective group,” he added. “We have a plan, but there are obviously, depending on how I feel and what we're doing as a team, we'll make those decisions. But we have a plan right now and we'll see if stick to that, if we do a little more, a little less. It just depends on a lot of stuff that happens in-game, whatever, minutes, et cetera.”