It’s not working for the Los Angeles Lakers. There are a number of ways that the current struggles of the team, which have now extended to four losses in the last six games, can be framed, but in the end, it’s hard not to come out with the conclusion that setting up the starting five around ball-dominant offensive players who are average defenders is a mistake. It’s easy to identify the notion that the Lakers’ lineup is flawed, but it’s a bit more difficult to single out the one guy who needs to sit in order to change it: Austin Reaves.
The idea of keeping Reaves on the floor with Luka Doncic and LeBron James has not worked out well for the Lakers thus far this season, and coach JJ Redick now has a choice. He can keep rolling with his starting five as it stands, operating under the hope that they get their issues worked out in the next six weeks before the playoffs get underway. Or he can recognize that is almost certain not to work and instead make a radical change.
As one Western Conference scout said, “It’s got to be Austin Reaves. He’s got to go to the bench.”
Austin Reaves Easiest to Bench for Lakers
Ideally, of course, none of the Lakers would have to go to the bench. Doncic is averaging a league-high 32.5 points this season, while Reaves is averaging a career-high 25.0 points on 50.4% shooting. James has been ever-efficient, putting in 21.7 points per game to go with 8.3 rebounds and 10.3 assists.
It would be nice if all three could combine forces and take the form of a hyper-productive offensive machine. Instead, their usage percentages bump up against each other and suck up all the oxygen that should be going to feed role players. Doncic’s usage percentage is just below 38%, while Reaves and James are just above 28%. There are not a lot of shots for the other two Lakers when the Doncic-Reaves-James trio is on the floor.
The most common iteration of that group, with Rui Hachimura at small forward and center Deandre Ayton in the middle, averages 100.5 points per 100 possessions, which makes it in only the fifth percentile in the league in efficiency, per Cleaning The Glass.
The Lakers stars can’t get out of each others’ way.
Luka Doncic-LeBron James-Austin Reaves Trio Puts Too Much Pressure on Other Lakers
One Western Conference assistant coach agreed that the Lakers ought to bench a star, and while he said it ought to James operating at sixth man, Redick can’t reasonably tell arguably the greatest player in league history he is moving to the bench.
And Doncic has too much power within the franchise to warrant benching him. Reaves is the easiest player on which to make that move.
“Maybe it will click for them, but it is hard to see how it happens,” the coach said. “There’s so much pressure on their role players to do all the things that the three stars can’t do. Those two players have to make up for the defense the stars don’t play or the rebounding they don’t do.
“If you’re Marcus Smart or Deandre Ayton or whoever else they start, you’re trying to fill the roles that the Lakers should be asking three or four players to fill. It’s a tough situation for JJ and I wonder if he can make that call.”
Lakers Hurting in the Standings
As it stands, the Lakers are getting knocked around in the Western Conference standings, at 34-23 and clinging to sixth place–the final spot above the play-in tournament.
They’ll play the No. 7 Suns on Thursday holding a 2.0-game lead, and can get some comfort from the fact that Phoenix has been knocked around by a short-term injury to Devin Booker and a long-term injury to Dillon Brooks. The No. 8 Warriors are similarly being battered by injuries.
That could be enough to keep the Lakers in the No. 6 seed. But eventually, without either a sudden burst of chemistry or a lineup change from Redick, their star trio will be exposed.
Lakers’ JJ Redick Urged to Make Big Change on Star Scorer