Lakerholics

While they’ve sputtered most of the year and will likely have to win a play-in game to make the postseason, the Los Angeles Lakers have suddenly become the scary, dangerous team nobody wants to meet in the playoffs.

What’s suddenly made the Lakers so dangerous is not just that they’re winning, it’s how and to whom they’re doing it. After a midseason offensive transformation, the Lakers are now healthy and peaking at the right time.
While they’re still playing bully ball and dominating points-in-the-paint and free-throws-made, the Lakers have suddenly transformed their poor 3-point shooting from their worst team weakness into a new found strength.

L.A.’s 3-point shooting transformation has totally changed their blueprint or formula for how to win games. Since February 1st, L.A.’s 39.6% on threes is second best in the entire NBA and their 20–8 win-loss record third best. Over the last three months, the Lakers have increased the number of threes they make per game while reducing the number of threes opponents make per game so their 3-point differential per game is now very close to zero.

Slowly but surely, the Lakers have completely transformed their 3-point shooting from their greatest weakness to a new found strength. The first three months, the Lakers lost 3-point differential by -9.6 points (10.9–14.1).
After losing the January 3–point war by -9.9 points (11.8–15.1), the Lakers improved, only losing February by -3.3 points (12.3–13.4), March by -1.2 points (13.3–13.7), and finally breaking even over last 9-games (13.0–13.0).

In the process, the Lakers have also shown that they can hold their own against the top teams in the league, posting big wins over top-10 teams like the Celtics, Timberwolves, Thunder, Bucks, Clippers, Suns, and 76ers.
While they need to prove they can beat teams like the Nuggets and Jazz, whose low-gravity centers Jokic and Sabonis are tough matchups for AD, the Lakers have become the team nobody wants to meet in the playoffs.

Let’s take a closer look at how the Lakers new found 3-point shooting prowess has changed their formula for winning games and made them a far scarier and far more dangerous team to meet in the NBA playoffs.

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Lakers Confident of Playoff Chances Regardless of Seeding

Right now, the Los Angeles Lakers are 9th in the West with a 44–33 record, just 1.0 game behind the 8th place Sacramento Kings and only 1.5 games behind the 7th place New Orleans Pelicans and 6th place Phoenix Suns.

Moving up the Western Conference competitive standings has been extremely difficult. Despite winning 22 of their last 33 games, the Lakers have been stuck in 9th or 10th place in the West for the last 74 days.
L.A. has been locked in 9th or 10th place in the West since January 21st when their win-loss record was 22–22. Now they find themselves with just 5 games left in the season to move up to the 6th, 7th, or 8th seed in West.

At this point, the Lakers’ are understandably strategically not worrying about their final seeding and instead are just focused on winning every single game they play, confident they can survive the play-in tourney.
With James and Davis healthy and playing like top-10 superstars, a starting lineup that’s an offensive juggernaut, and dramatically improved 3-point shooting, the Lakers have become every NBA team’s worst nightmare.

The Lakers’ 5 remaining games will include home games against the Cavs, Warriors, and Timberwolves and road games against the Grizzlies and Pelicans. The Lakers’ goal is to win all 5 games to finish year with 49 wins.
The Kings lead the Lakers by 2 losses and have 3 road games against the Knicks, Celtics, and Nets and 3 home games against the Pelicans, Suns, and Trail Blazers. The Kings won season series and own tiebreaker over Lakers.

The Pelicans have 5 games remaining in the season. They’re at home for the Spurs game next and the Lakers on last day of the season. In between, they have 3 road games against the Trail Blazers, Kings, and Warriors.
Finally, the Phoenix Suns have 6 games remaining in the regular season, including home games against the Timberwolves, Pelicans, and Clippers followed by road games against the Clippers, Kings, and Timberwolves.

The Los Angeles Lakers are confident they can survive the play-in tourney and make the NBA playoffs as the 7th or 8th seed, win first round matchup against the Timberwolves, Nuggets, or Thunder, and move on from there.

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Lakers Suddenly Getting Healthy And Peaking At Right Time

Over last 9 games, the Lakers led the entire league in multiple categories, including their 8–1 record, 123.3 points per game, 22.3 free throw makes per game, 40.8 defensive rebounds per game, and 49.9 rebounds per game.

While winning 8 of 9 games, the Lakers had the NBA’s 10th best offensive rating, 5th best defensive rating, and 6th best net rating. Most importantly, they avoided a negative 3-point shooting differential during those 9 games.
Instead, they made same number of threes as they allowed opponents to make during 9-game stretch for a 0.0 3-point shooting differential while still winning PIP by 8.9 points, FTM by 3.6 points, for total of 12.5 points.

Over that recent 9-game stretch, the Los Angeles Lakers’ starting lineup shot lights out, averaging a red hot 105.4 ppg, led by Davis’ 27.4 ppg, James 24.8 ppg, Russell’s 20.0 ppg, Hachimura’s 17.2 ppg, and Reaves 16.0 ppg.
Most importantly, the Lakers continued to shoot the ball well from every level, shooting a league third-best 49.7% from the field, a league 10th-best 38.0% from deep, and a league 5th-best 82.4% from the free throw line.

Ideally, the Lakers will win their five remaining games and at least jump from 9th place in the West to 7th or 8th place or with a little bit of good luck all the way up to 6th place in the West to avoid the play-in tournament.
Regardless, the Lakers are not worried about their seeding and are fully confident they can handle whatever challenge is put in front of them. They just need to keep on focusing on winning every single game they play.

The beauty of their new winning formula is the Lakers no longer need to have a 10 point advantage in points-in-the-paint and free-throws-made to offset a negative 10-point disadvantage from 3-point shooting differential.
Being able to transform their 3-point shooting from a big disadvantage to a positive advantage has completely transformed the Lakers’ chances to win their 18th NBA championship from a pipe dream to a possible miracle.

The Los Angeles Lakers will start the NBA playoffs as one of the hottest and healthiest teams in the NBA and a team that none of the other teams in the West want to meet in the first two rounds or the East in the NBA Finals.

The smartest thing the Lakers could do this summer is copy what the Celtics did last summer and use their draft picks to trade for an elite point-of-attack guard and two-way modern center rather than a third superstar.

Last summer, the Boston Celtics faced a situation very similar to what the Los Angeles Lakers will face this summer: how to build a championship starting lineup and rotation around two superstar players in their prime.
Much like this season’s Lakers, last season’s Celtics were a team with two legitimate superstars and a collection of highly respected role players that had struggled to live up to its potential and needed a major upgrade.

Unlike the Lakers, who reportedly want to trade for a third superstar with their eyes on the Hawks’ Trae Young, the Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell, or the Mavs’ Kyrie Irving, the Celtics smartly went in the opposite direction.
They used first round picks and tradable contracts to land the elite point-of-attack defender they needed in Jrue Holiday and two-way modern center they needed to stretch the floor and protect the rim in Kristaps Porzingis.

The result was a Boston Celtics team that has the best record in the league by far and the #1 offensive rating, #2 defensive rating, and #1 net rating. Worst of all, Boston is now the favorite to win its 18th NBA championship.
Talk about a harsh reality that should jolt the Lakers’ ownership and front office and make them realize the last thing they need is a third superstar. The Celtics showed the Lakers exactly what they should do this summer.

Let’s take a closer look at how the Lakers this summer could copy what the Celtics did last summer and use their draft capital and tradable contracts to land an elite point-of-attack defender and two-way modern stretch center.

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Celtics’ Holiday & Porzingis Trades

Like this season’s Lakers, last season’s Celtics needed two things to become legitimate championship contenders: better point-of-attack defense and a modern two-way center who can both stretch the floor and protect the rim.

Boston’s mega trades last summer for Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday transformed the Celtics from a second-tier competitor to the best team in the NBA and the odds-on favorite to win their 18th NBA championship.
The Lakers’ Rob Pelinka needs to take a close look at what the Celtics’ Brad Stevens accomplished with his two blockbuster trades to transform Boston into a championship contender because it’s also the right solution for L.A.

Stevens’ first move at the end of last season was to trade Marcus Smart, plus salary filler in Danilo Gallinari and Mike Muscala, and an early second round pick for Kristaps Porzingis and a pair of late first round picks.
Before the start of the season, Brad pulled off a second mega trade for point-of-attack guard Jrue Holiday to replace Marcus Smart, giving up Malcolm Brogdon, Robert Williams, and two late first round draft picks.

Those savvy moves resulted in the Celtics swapping Smart, Gallinari, Muscala, Brogdon, and Williams for Porzingis, Holiday, and an early second round pick. Porzingis’ trade gave them picks to use for Holiday.
That’s a consolidation effort that dramatically upgraded the Celtics from a tier-2 competitor to the championship favorite and set Brad Stevens up to win the league’s Executive of the Year award should Boston win #18.

The needs of this season’s Lakers and last season’s Celtics are so similar that the Rob Pelinka would be derelict if he did not consider replicating the trades Brad Stevens made rather than chasing after a third superstar.

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Who Could Be Lakers’ Holiday?

The Lakers’ top prospects to fill their need for a starting defensive guard who can elevate the team’s point-of-attack defense like Jrue Holiday has done for the Celtics are the Bull’s Alex Caruso and Grizzlies’ Marcus Smart.

Bringing back Alex Caruso to be the team’s starting shooting guard and point-of-attack perimeter defender playing alongside starting point guard D’Angelo Russell would be the perfect solution for the Los Angeles Lakers.
As an NBA All-Defensive First Team selection last season, Alex would be the perfect backcourt mate to play with D’Angelo Russell. Pelinka should try to swap Gabe Vincent and a protected first round draft pick for Alex Caruso.

Caruso could start at shooting guard alongside Russell, allowing Reaves to move to the bench as the team’s 6th man and backcourt mate for Spencer Dinwiddie, whom the Lakers should clearly try to re-sign for next season.
Russell and Caruso starting backed up by Dinwiddie and Reaves off the bench would upgrade and strengthen the Lakers’ backcourt and rotation going forward, giving them desperately needed backcourt stability.

The Lakers’ other candidate to be starting shooting guard and point-of-attack defender would be the Grizzlies’ Marcus Smart, who was the heart and soul of the Boston Celtics’ defense before being traded to Memphis.
Like Caruso, Smart would give the Lakers’ starting lineup a defense-first option while enabling Reaves to move to the bench with Dinwiddie. If Pelinka cannot land Caruso, Smart would be an equally strong candidate.

The los Angeles Lakers should trade for either the Bull’s Alex Caruso or the Grizzlies’ Marcus Smart this summer to replace Austin Reaves as starting shooting guard and be their primary point-of-attack perimeter defender.

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Who Could Be Lakers’ Porzingis?

The Lakers’ top prospects for a modern two-way big who can stretch the floor and protect the rim like Kristaps Porzingis has done for the Celtics are Magic’s power forward Jonathan Isaac and Raptors’ center Kelly Olynyk.

Finding a modern two-way center who could start alongside Anthony Davis in a two-bigs lineup, stretch the court with his 3-point shooting, and help protect the rim should be the Lakers’ other major priority this summer.
The Lakers’ top candidates for a second big to play with AD are the Magics’ Jonathan Isaac and the Raptors’ Kelly Olynyk, both of whom could play alongside or back up Anthony Davis at center so he can play the four.

The oft-injured but uber-talented Isaac is currently backing up Paolo Banchero and averaging 6.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 1.2 blocks, and 0.7 steals in 15.0 minutes per game while shooting 52.9/36.8/72.9%.
Jonathan would be a perfect fit next to AD. He has one year and $17.4 million left on his Magic contract and Pelinka should be able to acquire him this summer for Rui Hachimura and a first round draft pick.

The other intriguing modern two-way center the Lakers should consider is the Raptors’ Kelly Olynyk, who will be a free agent whom the Lakers should be able to acquire this summer for Rui Hachimura and a first round pick.
Whereas Isaac is slightly better on D than O, Olynyk is slightly better on O than D. He’s currently averaging 9.1 points, 5.0 boards, 4.2 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.4 blocks in 21.5 minutes per game shooting 55.0/40.5/81.7%.

The Los Angeles Lakers should trade for Jonathan Isaac or Kelly Olynyk to be their second big who could play alongside Anthony Davis in a two-bigs starting lineup or back up AD at center when he rests on the bench.

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How Would Lakers & Celtics Matchup?

Head-to-head, a new Los Angeles Lakers’ starting lineup of Russell, Caruso, James, Davis, and Isaac matches up well against the Boston Celtics’ current juggernaut starting lineup of Holiday, White, Brown, Tatum, and Porzingis.

Both starting lineups boast pairs of legitimate top-10 superstars who can dominate any given game surrounded by three championship-quality starters who can shoot, pass, rebound, and defend at a premier level.
Both starting lineups also feature five players who can shoot the three, lockdown point-of-attack defensive guards who can stop penetration, and modern two-way centers who can space the floor and protect the rim.

Putting together a championship caliber starting lineup can be extremely expensive, especially if it causes teams to go over the luxury tax thresholds. Right now, the Boston Celtics are projected to have $183.6 million payroll.
The Celtics starters alone make $155.7 million per year, with four of the five starters earning over $30 million per annum. That payroll will cost the Celtics $39.5 million in luxury taxes for a grand total of $223.1 million.

Should the Lakers pull off mega trades for Alex Caruso and Jonathan Isaac, they will find themselves in a far better salary cap and luxury tax situation than the Celtics did after trading for Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis.
While Holiday and Porzingis earn $36.9 and $36.0 million per year, Caruso and Isaac only earn $9.5 and $17.4 million per year. That would let Lakers maintain a starting lineup payroll of $132.4 million, total payroll of $168.1 million, luxury tax of $7.0 million, for grand total of just $175.1 million.

Copying what last season’s Celtics did to build a championship starting lineup but targeting a less expensive lockdown perimeter defender and modern two-way center should be the Lakers game plan this summer.

The Lakers can fix their broken point-of-attack defense without hurting their top-5 offense by going big and positionless and starting 6′ 10″ Jarred Vanderbilt at shooting guard and moving Austin Reaves to 6th man.

Right how, the #9 Lakers are essentially locked in a battle with the #10 Golden State Warriors for the second Play-In game. The Lakers are 3 games behind the #8 Phoenix Suns and 3 games ahead of #11 Houston Rockets.
With 13 games to go, the Lakers would prefer to only have to win one game to make the playoffs rather than two but their focus right now is more on getting fully healthy, fixing their defense, and playing well than moving up.

The Lakers’ acceptance that they’d need to win two Play-In games to make the playoffs could quickly change if the Mavs, Suns, and/or Kings stumble. But the Lakers are confident. They just need to be playing their best to win.
For now, the Lakers don’t care who they have to play or whom they have to go through. They’re confident, if they’re finally healthy and playing their best basketball, they have a chance to win another NBA championship.

While the Lakers will need to be more consistent to have even a puncher’s chance at winning their 18th NBA championship, there’s no doubt they’re the team nobody wants to meet in the Play-In Tournament or Playoffs.
Not with LeBron James and Anthony Davis healthy and thriving, the Lakers suddenly transformed into a top-10 3-point shooting team, and their elite roster depth and talent finally getting healthy and close to returning.

So, assuming Vando is healthy for the playoffs, let’s take a look at what going big and positionless and swapping him for Austin Reaves does for the Lakers’ starting lineup and rotation and why it’s their best possible move.

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Why Not Vanderbilt for Hachimura

The problem with starting Jarred Vanderbilt for Rui Hachimura is it still leaves the Lakers with two starting guards in D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves who are poor defenders and does not add needed size to roster.

The fact that Vando will most likely defend the other team’s top scorer, most likely a guard or wing, further exacerbates the Lakers’ team defense as it logically forces Russell or Reaves to have to defend a bigger forward.
Since Vando will usually defend guards or wings, it makes sense for him to replace one of the Lakers two offense-first guards. With Russell taking over as the team’s third best player, it’s time for Reaves to come off the bench.

Reaves has already had fewer shots and touches as a starter because of the focus on Russell and moving him to the bench to become the team’s sixth man would take better advantage of his scoring and playmaking skills.
While Vando is not the offensive player Reaves is, his point-of-attack defense and his size, physicality, and rebounding should dramatically help the Lakers’ starting lineup be more balanced and better able to match up.

Finally, some players should start and some shouldn’t. Frankly, Reaves is a far better choice to move to the bench than Hachimura because he could end up playing better whereas Rui clearly seem to play better as a starter.
There’s also the issue of team size. The Lakers need to stay big as possible against teams like Denver and Boston, where they need a starting lineup of 6′ 5″ Russell, 6″ 10″ Vanderbilt, 6′ 8″ Hachimura, 6′ 8″ James, and 6′ 10″ Davis.

The Lakers’ optimum solution to upgrade their perimeter defense, size and physicality, and control of the boards is to move Austin Reaves to the bench to be sixth man and start Jarred Vanderbilt at two guard for the playoffs.

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Vanderbilt Playing Shooting Guard

In today’s positionless NBA, players can play any position they can defend. Because he will defend guards and wings most of the time, the Lakers should start Vanderbilt at shooting guard and convert Reaves to sixth man.

Lakers replacing Reaves with Vanderbilt not only swaps an offense-first player for defense-first player but also exchanges a 6′ 5″ player for a 6′ 10″ player, which enables the Lakers to better matchup against bigger teams.
Adding an elite point-of-attack defender and bigger, longer, more physical rebounder in Jarred Vanderbilt dramatically adds needed defense and size and returns offense-defense balance to the Lakers’ starting lineup.

Before getting injured back in early February, Vando was playing the best basketball of his career. Despite troubling rumors, he’s expected to be fully healthy and ready to return to the court before the end of regular season. Hopefully, Jarred will get a chance to play in a few games before the end of the season so he can get back into playing condition and be ready to have a major impact as the Lakers’ top point-of-attack perimeter defender.

Starting at shooting guard, Jarred Vanderbilt should have a clear cut edge in size, length, and athleticism over whomever he matches up against playing shooting guard. Those advantages should help him excel at the position.
While shooting is not his strength, Vando’s size and athleticism should give him a big offensive advantage over the smaller, less physical players he may find himself matched up against. Vando’s offense becomes a plus.

Finally, the Lakers starting lineup for the playoffs of Russell, Vanderbilt, Hachimura, James, and Davis should finally give them enough size and physicality to match up against the world champion Denver Nuggets.

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Bench Scoring & Playmaking

Right now, the Los Angeles Lakers’ have one of the worst benches in the league. Their 29.8 bench points per game ranks 29 out of 30 and their 6.8 bench assists per game 26 out of 30 in the league for the current season.

By moving Austin Reaves from starting shooting guard to backup shooting guard and hopefully getting back injured players like Cam Reddish and Christian Wood, L.A. should see much better scoring and playmaking. Austin Reaves’ presence alone should add 10 points and 5 assists to the Lakers’ bench points and assists, which would elevate the Lakers from being bottom-5 in bench points and assists to top-10 in that category.

Getting Christian Wood back from arthroscopic surgery on his knee in time for the playoffs will be critical to the Lakers being able to continue to roll out big lineups off the bench. Lakers need both Wood and Hayes to excel.
Spencer Dinwiddie will get the rest of the bench backcourt minutes next to Austin Reaves. The Reaves/Dinwiddie bench backcourt has similar balance between offense and defense as the Russell/Vanderbilt starting backcourt.

While the last thing Ham should do is play hockey style lineups, I do like the complementary fit and offensive and defensive balance in the proposed Los Angeles Lakers’ starting lineup and primary backups at each position.
The analytics have been screaming all year for the Lakers to go big and starting 6′ 10″ defensive specialist Jarred Vanderbilt at shooting guard could give the Lakers strong positional size advantage in all of their lineups.

Moving Austin Reaves to the bench and getting Christian Wood back from injury could transform the Lakers’ reserves from being a bottom-5 lineup to a top-10 lineup by generating more bench points, assists, and rebounds.

That’s the question that will ultimately decide whether the Jekyll/Hyde Los Angeles Lakers can survive the inevitable Play-In Tournament and pull off another miracle playoff run and overcome the champion Denver Nuggets.

The Lakers surrounding James and Davis with three offense-first role players who can shoot the three worked well enough to turn their season around but now they need to fix their defense to be able to go any further.
Since January 15, when Darvin Ham reinstated D’Angelo Russell as the team’s starting point guard, the Lakers transformed their offense into a top-5 juggernaut but at the cost of seeing their defense dropping to bottom-5.

Obviously, the Lakers’ moves to boost the offense of their starting lineup was a rousing success but went too far. The Lakers would have been smarter to start at least one role player who could play good defense.
Fortunately, they’ll get a chance to fix this issue soon as Gabe Vincent, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Cam Reddish get healthy and are ready to play over the next couple of weeks, hopefully in time to impact the Lakers’ playoffs.

Right now, the Lakers appear doomed to having to win a playoff spot via the Play-In Tournament. With just 14 games left in the regular season, the best the Lakers can realistically hope for is to end up with #7 or #8 in West.
At best, the Lakers would have to win a play-in game to get to the playoffs and, at worst, two play-in games. Ideally, the Lakers want to win the #7 seed to avoid having to play the champion Denver Nuggets in the first round.

Let’s look at why the Russell/Reaves backcourt won’t work, the chance Vando will return before playoffs, whether he should start or come off the bench, and whether he’ll be the difference-maker the Lakers need.

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Why Russell/Reaves Backcourt Won’t Work

While the D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves backcourt has elevated the Lakers’ offense to top-5 NBA status, the duo’s defensive liabilities have been a major problem, allowing opponents to average over 120 points per game.

Since January 15th when Darvin Ham reinstated D’Angelo Russell as the team’s starting point guard, the Lakers have posted an elite offensive rating of 119.1, second in the league behind the Celtics record-setting 123.4.
The problem for the Lakers is that their defensive rating during this stretch fell to 118.2, which ranks 28th out of 30 NBA teams and which reduces the team’s overall net rating since January 15th to just +1.0, which ranks 14th.

Surrounding their two superstars three offense-first players who could shoot the three transformed the Lakers into an offensive juggernaut but went too far and brutally exposed the team’s injury-weakened defense.
The Lakers desperately need better point-of-attack defense and rebounding and hope Jarred Vanderbilt, Gabe Vincent, and Cam Reddish will return soon and help them fix their defense down the stretch and in the playoffs.

While Ham does not like to change his starting lineups, there’s little doubt the Lakers need to replace one of their three offense-first starting role players with a defense-first starting role player to fix their poor defense.
Vincent will be the first defense-first role player who will soon be available, followed shortly afterward by Vanderbilt and then Reddish. Ham will likely wait to make any change in the starting lineup until Vanderbilt is ready.

The Lakers know they cannot win a championship with a defensively challenged Russell and Reaves backcourt. Once Vanderbilt, Vincent, or Reddish is healthy, Austin Reaves will likely move back to the bench.

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Chance Vando Will Return Before Playoffs?

While Jarred Vanderbilt has not yet been cleared for non-contact work, the Lakers still remain hopeful he will be able to return to action sometime before April to give them the needed defensive push to make the playoffs.

Before spraining his right foot on February 1st, Vando had been playing the best basketball of his career. In the 10 games since January 15, he averaged 9.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 2.2 steals, and 0.2 blocks in 22.7 mpg.
Jarred’s stats were up from last year’s 7.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.2 blocks in 24.0 mpg. His 109.4 defensive rating since January 15th was the team-best and better than last season’s good 112.1.

Vando was originally projected to be re-evaluated early January. While he has not been cleared for non-contact or contact work at this point, he is no longer wearing a boot and could be able to return in a couple of weeks.
The Lakers essentially have four weeks and 14 games remaining in the 2023–24 regular season, with 7 or half of the games the last two weeks of March and the other 7 or half of the games in the first two weeks of April.

Besides being 6′ 10,” Jarred Vanderbilt is the best defender of the Lakers three defense-first role players. Vincent and Reddish are better point-of-attack defenders than Russell and Reaves but just not legit starter quality.
Vando is also the best offensive player of the three and also can point to the great success of last season’s run to the West conference finals to support his candidacy to replace Austin Reaves in the Lakers’ starting lineup.

The Lakers hope Vando will be ready to return by the end of March, which would give him two weeks and 7 games to get ready for play-in tournament, where the Lakers will have to win 2 games just to get into the playoffs.

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Should Vando Start or Come Off the Bench?

The quickest and surest way for the Lakers to upgrade their starting lineup defense would be to turn starting shooting guard Austin Reaves into a sixth man and go big by replacing him with POA defender Jarred Vanderbilt.

Replacing the 6′ 5″ Austin Reaves with the 6′ 10″ Jarred Vanderbilt would not only improve the Lakers’ backcourt defense but also dramatically increase their front court size to help their defensive and offensive rebounding.
Moving Austin Reaves to lead guard off the bench will give the Lakers’ second unit desperately needed offensive firepower while allowing Vando to upgrade the starting lineup’s point-of-attack defense and rebounding.

Replacing Reaves with Vando would give the Lakers a jumbo starting lineup with 6′ 5″ Russell at point, 6′ 10″ Vanderbilt at shooting guard, 6′ 8″ James at small forward, 6′ 8″ Hachimura at power forward, and 6′ 10″ Davis at center.
This big lineup would not only allow the Lakers to ‘switch everything’ on the perimeter on defense, which is a better fit for the drop coverage Ham likes to play, but would also dramatically improve L.A.’s 3-point defense.

Playing shooting guard is actually a better fit for Vando than power forward. At shooting guard, Vando will have a dramatic size advantage over whomever guards him, which should help his contributions on offense.
That would help the Lakers control their defensive boards and limit the number of second chance opportunities they give up. Vando gives the Lakers a second elite defender to complement Anthony Davis on defense.

While Vando will likely come off the bench when he first returns from injury, look for the Lakers to move him into the starting shooting guard role once he’s 100% recovered from the foot sprain and in shape to play.

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Could Vando Be Lakers’ Difference Maker?

Vando is the only player on the Lakers with the defensive talent to be the difference maker who can help the Lakers win two Play-In games to create a first-round rematch of last season’s West Conference Finals vs. Nuggets.

The Los Angeles Lakers starting lineup desperately needs a strong point-of-attack perimeter defender to pair with offense-first point guard D’Angelo Russell to restore a reasonable balance between offense and defense. Swapping offense-first Reaves for defense-first Vanderbilt gives the Lakers an elite defensive stopper with the size, quickness, and athleticism to guard opposing team’s stars like Steph Curry, Devin Booker, or Luka Doncic.

If Vando can produce 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists per game while defending opponents’ top scorers, the Lakers would enjoy a better offense and defense balance in both their starting lineup and bench rotations.
Instead of having a top-5 offense and bottom-5 defense, the Lakers goal would be to generate a top-10 ranking both on offense and defense. That would give them the consistent play at both ends that they’ve been lacking.

While having Vincent and Reddish back for limited minutes will help, the key to transforming the Lakers starting lineup defense is Jarred Vanderbilt, who is the only role player on the Lakers who can be the difference maker.
We saw back in late January when Vando was in full stride that the Lakers defense could be a top-10. By replacing Reaves with Vando, the Lakers can not only fix their starting lineup defense but also their bench offense.

Jarred Vanderbilt is the only player on the Los Angeles Lakers current roster who is a difference maker capable of fixing the team’s starting lineup defense without sacrificing what’s now the NBA’s second best team offense.

Forget trading away depth and diversity for a third superstar like Trae Young. The Lakers’ top priority this offseason should be to bring back D’Angelo Russell, the missing piece to their championship puzzle.

If there’s anything Rob Pelinka and the Los Angeles Lakers should have learned over the last 25 games since Darvin Ham put D’Angelo Russell back in the starting lineup, it’s that they may already have that needed third star.
Since returning to the starting lineup, Russell has delivered everything the Lakers could have hoped to get from a third star, including elite leadership, difference-making scoring, playmaking, and volume 3-point shooting.

Last night’s elite performance by D’Angelo Russell without LeBron James enabled the Lakers to stun the heavily favored Milwaukee Bucks and also confirmed that DLO is the third star the team should pursue this summer.
Russell elevating his game to star level forced the Lakers not only not to trade him at the deadline but could now end up forcing them to completely change direction this summer and make re-signing him their priority.

Let’s take a closer look at D’Angelo Russell’s third star game, whether it’s even sustainable, what it’s done for the Lakers’ championship potential, and what it means for their roster decisions and moves this summer.

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What’s Behind D’Angelo Russell’s Break Out?

Watching from the bench, D’Angelo Russell decided the best way to complement superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis was to take advantage of them by being aggressive rather than deferring to them.

When Ham returned him to the starting lineup, Russell dramatically upped his minutes played, field goals attempted, points per game scored, and 3-point field goals made to the levels representative of the team’s third star.
Over the last 25 games, DLO raised his minutes per game from 29.1 to 36.1 (+24%), field goal attempts from 12.4 to 16.6 (+34%), points per game from 15.4 to 22.2 (+44%), and 3-pointers made per game from 2.2 to 3.9 (+77%).

D’Angelo Russell’s increase in minutes played, field goal attempts, points per game, and 3-pointers made per game have definitely elevated his usage and role to that of the team’s third star and clearly appear to be sustainable.
Russell’s transformation as the Lakers’ third star now has him playing the 2nd most minutes on the team, taking the 3rd most field goal attempts, scoring the 3rd most points, and leading the team in made 3–point shots.

What’s behind Russell’s break out? Since returning to starting lineup? DLO increased his minutes played, field goal attempts taken, points scored per game, and 3-point shots made per game to the elite level of a third star.

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How Has DLO’s Evolution Changed Lakers?

Since reinstated as the Lakers’ starting point guard 25 games ago, D’Angelo Russell has definitely shown that he is fully capable of filling the role as the Lakers third offensive star and their designated volume 3-point specialist.

In the 25 games since he took over as the team’s third star, Russell has averaged 22.2 ppg and 16.6 FGA in 36.1 mpg, comparable to James’ 26.3 ppg on 18.9 FGA in 36.4 mpg and Davis’ 24.2 ppg on 16.7 FGA in 35.2 mpg.
Most importantly, D’Angelo Russell has shown he can continue to sustain third star level performance despite dramatically increased minutes, field goal attempts, points per game scored, and 3-point field goals made.

DLO’s emergence as the Lakers third star has significantly raised the Lakers’ floor and ceiling as a team. When all three play, the Lakers winning formula no longer demands they dominate the paint and free throw line.
Russell’s enhanced 3-point shooting has slashed in half what used to be a negative 10 points per game disadvantage for the Lakers in the 3-point shooting battle. That’s made it far easier for the Lakers to win games.

DLO’s reinventing himself as the Lakers’ third star and elite volume 3-point specialist has transformed the Lakers from a team that couldn’t shoot to one that now has the ability to rain threes as well as dominate in the paint.

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The Summer of LeBron James and D’Angelo Russell?

If he can successfully finish the season in his new role as team’s third star and sustain that level of play throughout the playoffs, D’Angelo Russell could force the Lakers to re-sign him as their third superstar gong forward.

Frankly, there’s a good argument the Lakers should abandon their plans to pursue a third superstar like Trae Young or Donovan Mitchell this summer when they will have three first round picks and four pick swaps to trade.
Rather than using their valuable draft capital for a third superstar, the Lakers would be smart to instead re-sign D’Angelo Russell to be their third star and use their draft capital and matching salaries to upgrade the roster.

The last thing the Lakers want to do after finally building a deep and diverse roster to complement LeBron James and Anthony Davis is to throw away all of the progres of the last few year to chase after a third superstar.
Trading for Trae Young or Donovan Mitchell would likely cost the Lakers four rotation players like Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Gabe Vincent as well as most of their tradable draft picks and swaps.

The Lakers would be smart to abandon the idea of trading away the farm to add a max salary superstar and instead focus on re-signing LeBron James and D’Angelo Russell and using their trade capital to build around them.