The Los Angeles Lakers’ roster will look a lot different this season as the only players returning from last year are LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Talen Horton-Tucker.
The Lakers’ big move of the summer, of course, was acquiring Russell Westbrook is a blockbuster traded with the Washington Wizards. They then filled out the roster with a number of veterans on minimum contracts that are coming in with the mindset of winning a championship.
Considering how many changes the Lakers made, no one is quite sure yet how it will look on the court, and that includes head coach Frank Vogel.
On a recent appearance on Spectrum SportsNet’s “LakeShow” podcast with Chris McGee and Allie Clifton, Vogel revealed that he’s not yet sure what his starting lineup will be to start the season:
“There really is a vast array and no decisions have been made. People ask me all the time, are we gonna start AD at the 5 or are we gonna play with two bigs like we did two years ago, what’s it gonna look like? The honest answer is we don’t know yet. We’re gonna watch these guys play together in camp and measure the pros and cons of certain lineups and find a landing spot that we think is gonna help us get off to a strong start.”
This doesn’t come as much of a surprise considering the Lakers haven’t yet started training camp. There has been a lot of buzz surrounding Davis starting at center and playing more at the position overall though, so it will be interesting to see if that’s the case.
If Davis starts at the four then Vogel would go with either Dwight Howard or DeAndre Jordan at center, replicating the size they had during their 2019-20 championship season.
All that’s certain right now is that Westbrook, James and Davis will be in the starting lineup, leaving two available spots to fight for in training camp. Considering the lack of shooting amongst the Lakers’ Big 3, they likely will have to include at least one spot-up shooter like Wayne Ellington or Kent Bazemore in the starting lineup to combat that.
The Lakers have a ton of players worthy of cracking the starting lineup, so Vogel will have some tough decisions to make during training camp, although that is a good problem to have.
James organizing team minicamp in Las Vegas
Training camp is a week away, but it appears the Lakers are getting a head start on preparing for the season ahead as it was recently reported that James is organizing a team minicamp over the weekend in Las Vegas.
This is something the Lakers did before their 2019-20 championship season and it helped build chemistry, so it is good to see that James is showing his leadership by organizing it once again.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!
