The Los Angeles Lakers front office has done a bulk of their work this summer, filling out the roster to fit around their two All-Star players in LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
The team’s first priority in free agency was signing a third All-Star player in Kawhi Leonard, but he wound up signing with the Los Angeles Clippers instead. Considering Leonard took his time in making his decision, the Lakers missed out on a lot of other quality free agents that would have been nice fits with them.
However, they were still able to add a number of solid players, including Danny Green, Avery Bradley, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Rajon Rondo, Alex Caruso, Quinn Cook, and Troy Daniels in the backcourt and JaVale McGee, DeMarcus Cousins, and Jared Dudley in the frontcourt.
With so many new pieces, head coach Frank Vogel will have his work cut out for him putting together his starting lineup and different rotations considering how many quality options he has to choose from.
It was recently reported the plan was actually to start James at point guard, which is a position he isn’t usually listed at but more or less plays as the team’s primary initiator on offense.
Vogel had the chance to address that report during the 2019 Las Vegas Summer League game and he downplayed it, saying those decisions have not yet been made:
“No decisions made on our starting lineup. No imminent plans to start LeBron at the point guard spot. A lot of different lineups and combinations have been discussed but it’s way too early for any of that.”
The only players there aren’t many questions about them being in the starting lineup are James, Davis, and Green. If James is the de facto point guard, then they could go with a bigger lineup and have Kyle Kuzma and Cousins or McGee fill out the starting five. It was reported when McGee re-signed with the Lakers that he was expected to start at center to allow Davis to play power forward.
A lineup that big in size could cause defensive issues for the Lakers on the perimeter, so it is more likely that they start another guard to defend the gauntlet of All-Star-caliber point guards in the Western Conference on a nightly basis.
Vogel will have plenty of time during training camp and the preseason to figure out what lineups work best for his team, even it takes some time in the regular season to make some tweaks as well.
