Lakers must ignore positions to unlock their best starting five

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Rui Hachimura or Marcus Smart – it was the popular offseason debate as to who occupies the final spot in the Los Angeles Lakers’ preferred starting lineup. Hachimura initially won the battle before losing the battle.

Rui joining Luka Doncic, Austin Reeves, LeBron James and Deandre Ayton in the starting five was clearly desirable in Los Angeles. It didn’t work. In 87 minutes together, the second most of any five-man lineup, that combination posted a net rating of -22.4. Oh.

Hachimura was moved to a permanent bench role. With a clean bill of health on the way for the Lakers — and hopefully somewhat sustainable — JJ Redick is back in a familiar set of circumstances. Does the second-year coach stick with a more traditional fifth starter by deploying Jake Laravia, or does Smart instead firmly secure that position?

The former Defensive Player of the Year has started in 37 of a possible 44 games for the Lakers this season. This should remain ideal in Los Angeles if this group wants its best shot at competing in the second half of the season.

Stats support Marcus Smart’s case to be the permanent Lakers starter

The hesitation of many about deploying Smart as a starter, in addition to his health concerns, was mostly related to the designation. Snow, Reeves and Doncic are all guards. It’s strange, isn’t it? Not good.

It’s strange here to care about positional labels when one of the ‘guards’ is listed around 6-foot-8. This seems especially true when actually looking at the data behind Doncic, Reeves and Smart running together.

The theoretical starting lineup of those three plus James and Ayton hasn’t spent a lot of time on the court together this season. His net rating dropped to -11.5 in just 12 minutes. This is not good.

However, a excess The large sample size of three guards sharing the court together would show that they actually work incredibly well with each other. The three-man combo of Doncic, Reeves and Smart has posted a net rating of 25.9 in 172 minutes together on the court during 2025-26.

The Lakers trio combined for an offensive rating of 125.3 and a defensive rating of 99.5. This should confidently remove any doubt about whether Redick can consistently and reliably play three ‘guards.

The skill sets between the three of them compliment each other well. If anyone is still holding on to concerns about three guards sharing the court together for a long time, they should really give it up by now.



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