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Lakers Should Start Marcus Smart While Staggering Doncic & Reaves

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Before the 2025–26 season begins, JJ Redick needs to start Marcus Smart and stagger Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves as point guards to restore the balance between offense and defense for the Lakers’ starters and bench.

While Redick is going to give Reaves and Hachimura the opportunity to prove they should still start, he also realizes the Lakers dramatically need better defense from their starters and better offense from their backups. Last season, the Lakers’ starters were the fifth worst defensive lineup in the NBA, ranked 25th out of 30 teams in defense, while their bench was the third worst offensive bench, ranked 28th out of 30 teams in offense.

Starting Smart in place of Reaves, moving Austin to the bench as its lead guard, and staggering him and Luka so one was always on the court would be the simplest way to upgrade the starers’ defense and bench’s offense.
Starting Luka Doncic, Marcus Smart, Rui Hachimura, LeBron James, and Deandre Ayton with Austin Reaves, Gabe Vincent, Jake LaRavia, Adou Thiero, and Jaxson Hayes as backups would be the Lakers’ ideal rotation.

Marcus Smart and Deandre Ayton would be huge defensive upgrades as starters over Austin Reaves and Jaxson Hayes, whose moves to reserves should transform the 28th worst bench into an offensive juggernaut.
Hopefully, a lighter, quicker, and faster Luka will also give the Lakers’ starters a boost defensively while the young legs and athleticism of LaRavia and Thiero could help the non-starting lineups be better offensively.

So let’s take a closer look at why the Lakers should move Reaves to the bench rather than Hachimura, how not starting could impact Austin’s Reaves’ future with team, and what happens with Rui with no extension.

Why Reaves Needs To Move To Bench?

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The Lakers are planning to begin the season with an offense-first Luka Doncic/Austin Reaves’ backcourt in the hope they can duplicate the success the Mavericks had with Doncic/Brunson and Doncic/Irving backcourts.

Now that the Lakers locked up Luka Doncic, their next challenge is to figure out what to do with Austin Reaves, who declined 4-year $89 million deal but will be eligible this summer for 5-year $247 million extension.
Reaves wants to stay with the Lakers and is seeking at least $30 million per year. Pelinka’s decision to start him is probably an effort to find out as quickly as possible whether a Doncic/Reaves backcourt could succeed.

To be honest, a Doncic/Reaves backcourt probably won’t work for the Lakers as well as the Doncic/Brunson and Doncic/Irving backcourts did for the Mavs because L.A. does not have Dallas’ front court talent and depth.
Pelinka would be smarter to use the first half of the season to see if starting Smart alongside Doncic could improve the starting lineup’s defense and having Reaves run the point on the bench could boost the bench’s offense.

Bottom line, a Doncic/Smart backcourt paired with Austin Reaves-led bench has a better chance to become a legitimate championship rotation than a Doncic/Reaves backcourt paired with a Marcus Smart-led bench.
The Lakers need to make a consolidation trade before the trade deadline and must determine whether there is a viable long-term role on Luka Doncic championship team for a $30 million per year Austin Reaves.

Austin Reaves needs to begin the season as lead guard off the bench to improve the offense of the Lakers’ bench and to allow Marcus Smart to start next to Luka Doncic to improve the defense of the starting lineup.

How Bench Move Impacts Reaves’ Future?

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It won’t be easy selling Austin Reaves that his best role with the Lakers would be coming off the bench and being staggered with Luka Doncic so that one of them was always on court the full 48 minutes of each game.

Here’s where Mark Walter’s billions and Austin Reaves’ love for the Lakers come in with a deal that works for everybody. Austin goes to the bench but gets starter minutes and a 4-year extension starting at $30 million per year.
While Reaves is not worth a max contract, $30 million per year will be less than half of what superstars will be making and Austin is the exact kind of player who’s willing to make personal sacrifices for the good of his team.

Frankly, I would not be completely surprised if Austin Reaves were to volunteer to turbo charge the bench’s weak offense so that Marcus Smart could start next to Luka and transform the staring lineup’s poor defense.
There’s probably no player on the team today who appreciates being a Los Angeles Laker more than Austin Reaves or who would be more eager and willing to make individua sacrifices for the success and good of the team.

At any rate, the Lakers most important goal right now is to find the ‘right’ starters to optimize Luka. By the end of training camp, it will be obvious that Marcus Smart should start and Austin Reaves should lead the bench.
While the Lakers will not be able to announce the extension until next summer when Reaves becomes eligible, there is no way with Walter’s wealth that the Lakers are going to lose another young star over money.

The Lakers and Austin Reaves both need to sacrifice to build a legitimate championship caliber roster. The Lakers have to be willing to pay Reaves what he deserves and Reaves has to be willing to come off the bench.

What Happens To Rui With No Extension?

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Despite playing well in last year’s playoffs, offense-first Rui Hachimura did not receive an extension offer from the Lakers, who reportedly also were looking to trade for an elite defensive small forward like Andrew Wiggins.

So while Rui will retain his starting small forward position to begin the season, he will be under extreme pressure to perform well, especially on defense, or suddenly find himself on another team come the deadline.
Hachimura’s problem is he is not quick or fast enough to stay with the dynamic athletic wing scorers a small forward has to defend in the West. He should be playing power forward, but that’s LeBron James’ position.

A Lakers fan favorite, Rui Hachimura is primarily a one-way offense-first player who needs to be replaced by a two-way defense-first starting small forward via a consolidation trade before the February 5th deadline.
Realistically, there’s no way the Lakers are going to give Hachimura an extension since he already earns $18 million per year. The Lakers cannot afford to let Rui walk for nothing as a free agent so they will trade him.

With an $18 million expiring contract, Rui should be highly coveted by teams looking to elevate their roster with an elite 3-point shooter who has excellent size and athleticism and is just entering the prime of his career.
Ideally, the Lakers will reopen discussions with the Heat once we get into December and January about trading Hachimura, Vincent, and Knecht for Wiggins, who should be the Lakers’ #1 starting small forward target.

Bottom line, the end of Rui Hachimura’s stint with the Lakers is rapidly approaching. Hopefully, Rui will enjoy a strong start to the season and be the centerpiece of a blockbuster trade with the Heat for Andrew Wiggins.

5 Things: What to Expect from DeAndre Ayton

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Since it’s the dog days and there’s no further moves the Lakers can make until 2026 (likely after the season on draft day) I figured I’d spend some time getting to know our new center, DeAndre Ayton. It’s safe to say that quite a lot is riding on Ayton at least replicating some aspects of his best seasons to date. Let’s break down his strengths, weaknesses, and x-factors in his game.

1) Ayton will work well in the pick and roll with all 3 of our playmakers. Google his shot profile and you’ll see that DeAndre is an above-average paint scorer. Get much further out and his efficiency plummets (although he shoots a shade above league average on straight away three pointers). His midrange and baseline game is nonexistent but he does possess a great touch around the rim, a solid floater and an array of hook shots that he uses when he can’t finish at the rim or on an offensive put back. This is welcome news for Luka, LeBron, Austin and coach Reddick. A lot of the Laker half court offense is geared around a variety of pick and roll actions and while Jaxson Hayes is probably the better dunker snd more athletic finisher, Ayton has a vastly superior arsenal of paint moves snd overall touch which means we won’t just be relying on lob dunks. That’s a good thing.

2) Average rebounder but solid. He’s no Andre’ Drummond but DeAndre can hold his own on the glass. He is certainly consistent as you can basically pencil him in for 10 boards/game (3 offensive/7 defensive for his career, roughly). Regardless, he’s a vast improvement over Jaxson Hayes who has yet to figure out how to crack the 5 rebounds/game barrier.

3) Defense. This one is tricky, his defensive rating is 110.3 for his career, which is a bit below Hayes’ 112. This is likely due to Hayes having better perimeter to paint coverage snd switching ability. Still, Ayton holds his own in the blocks and steals department because he has great hands for a center. I’m not counting on another level of defense he can achieve but if he can just put up his career numbers snd we have Jax in the wings for more mobile situations I think we’ll have a very workable defensive center situation. Not elite, or even above average, workable.

4) Role and work load. One hopes that Ayton has, for the most part, left his notions of being a back to the basket/post up dominator. Not because I don’t admire the low post game but because he’s better in the pick and roll. Having elite playmakers get him the ball in his spots just makes sense. I’d love to see LeBron and Rui post up more, they have the bag for it. DeAndre…notsomuch. He’s limited as a pick and pop option but he can be a pick and flip threat. He’s not remotely a stretch player and should the three as a last resort. On defense he needs to focus on getting those defensive rebounding numbers up and being a rim deterrent. His workload…that’s a tricky one. His career high in games played was his rookie year (71) when he was 20. Since then he’s played as few as 38 and not cracked 70 again. I’ll be happy with 65-70 games played. The calf injury should be well healed by now snd so he’s had a summer to get back to focusing on the game so we’ll see. His snd Vando’s health loom large as X factors for the entire season.

5) Speaking of X factors…. Ayton is a walking X factor for the Lakers. Probably no player besides Vanderbilt has a bigger question mark over them. For Ayton those questions come down more to his focus, approach, passion and grit. If I could Jarred Vanderbilt’s heart, spirit and grit in DeAndre’s body I’d have thenon the lab table in the spooky mad scientist lair, Erlenmeyer flasks and all, faster than you can Dr. Frankenstein. Any and all questions regarding DeAndre’s impact begin and end with the mental and heart side of the game. The intangibles, if you will.

I’ll conclude with this observation: Ayton has been a solid pillar on a winning team early in his young career. For reasons known and otherwise he wanted to leave Phoenix, had to stay and since then has seemed a shell of what one imagined he could become. He’s still young and has experienced two very different ends of the NBA spectrum in a short amount of time. He has every opportunity to redefine his story and make a boatload, or at least above average, amount of NBA money. Not All Star money. But solid. The ball is in his court.