Lakers News: Xavier Henry Will Remain Starter Against Mavericks

Dan Duangdao
2 Min Read

Xavier Henry

Before Sunday’s victory against the Atlanta Hawks, Lakers head coach Mike D’Antoni decided to insert Xavier Henry into the starting line-up for Nick Young and it was an effective decision.

After struggling through the first three games as a starter, Nick Young came off the bench and finished with 13 points, four rebounds, and four assists. With Young mentioning that his goal is to win the Sixth Man of the Year award this season, D’Antoni has decided to start Xavier Henry tomorrow night via Lakers Nation’s Serena Winters:

It’s no surprise that Henry will start tomorrow and possibly for the foreseeable future. In his first start of the season, Henry finished with 18 points including 2-4 from three-point land and 6-8 from the free-throw line. He looked very comfortable and provided much needed energy to the starting frontcourt of Pau Gasol and Shawne Williams.

With Henry starting, it allows Young to play a role that he has been comfortable playing throughout his career. Instead of trying to fill Kobe Bryant’s role on offense and create for his teammates, Young can solely focus on providing that offensive punch off the bench.

While it was only one game, the Lakers’ coaching staff seems to have found a nice balance between the starters and bench as D’Antoni continues to have an 11-man rotation this season.

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Dan Duangdao was the managing editor at Lakers Nation (2013-16, 2018-20). He is currently the founder at LA Sports Media, Lake Show, Raiders Nation, Rams Nation, Kings Nation, Galaxy Nation, and MMA Rumors. Born and raised in Southern California and a lifelong Los Angeles sports and mixed martial arts fan, his first NBA game was Kobe Bryant and the Lakers against the Golden State Warriors with Michael Jordan in attendance during the 1998-99 NBA season. He was previously a contributor at HOOPSWORLD (now Basketball Insiders) and an NBA editor at ClutchPoints. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: @DanDuangdao.