Ahead of your Los Angeles Lakers’ latest loss, a 129-109 blowout to the New Orleans Pelicans, LA head coach Darvin Ham alluded to the fact that Rui Hachimura was going to be the injured Cam Reddish’s long-term replacement in his starting lineup, per Khobi Price of The Orange County Register. Reddish has missed two of LA’s last three games with a sore groin. “This lineup that you see, we’re going to stick with for the foreseeable future,” Ham said. To be fair, he made a drastic change to his starting five last week, too, that he insisted was long-term. Ham demoted starting point guard D’Angelo Russell and moved Jarred Vanderbilt into the opening unit.
Presumably if LA strings together enough losses, he may make a change again. He seems to have some kind of major allergy to starting reserve combo guard Austin Reaves, who would be a natural choice to add some secondary creation alongside 39-year-old superstar LeBron James, currently playing out of position at point guard to accommodate the other two power forwards in this latest starting group, Hachimura and Jarred Vanderbilt. For now, Hachimura and Vanderbilt are being toggled at either forward spot, with Vanderbilt nominally at the three, given that Vanderbilt can guard anyone but is unable to hit the broad side of a barn, but Hachimura is a limited defender best suited to bigs. “[We’re] starting there, and hopefully everyone gets on the mend and we’ll try to get guys as much time as possible to get back healthy. [We’re] definitely trying to figure out a more consistent lineup as we proceed through this next portion of the season.” Since winning the In-Season Tournament, the Lakers have gone a dismal 3-8.
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