No question Lakers need to start Marcus Smart and move Rui Hachimura to the bench to get better D with starters and better O with bench. Marcus’ performance last night sealed the change. Now it’s just up to JJ to understand the need for the change and to make it when we return to court.
Timing wise, how we lost two of the last three games should end any question whether the Laker need a blockbuster trade for an elite 3&D starting small forward and shot blocking defensive center. The combination of poor point of attack defense and poor rim protection cannot survive the playoffs. Time to see what a Mark Walter Lakers trade looks like.
Good to have the break right now. JJ can work Smart into the starting lineup and Rui into the bench lineups. Those stats for the Big Three that are negative are bothersome, especially since the stats for any 2 of the Lakers Big 3 on the court are elite. The harsh reality is the expected juggernaut when all three play has not emerged.
These games raise serious questions about the success of the Lakers Big Three. It’s a lot harder to cover for deficiencies of three star players when you only have two role playrers. Much easier to find three great role players to cover weaknesses of just two stars.
Mark Walter and his team are analytics true believers. JJ needs to figure out how to make the Big Three work, especially with a center who is not a great rim protector. That leaves you with just one and a half starters to upgrade the defense. Only thing we can do now is start Marcus for Rui to balance the O and D of the starters and bench until Rob pulls off a trade.
And it could get messy waiting another entire month for Herb Jones to become trade eligible.
FROM ABOVE ARTICLE:
Coming off a surprising and inspiring win against the Blazers, the Lakers are riding good vibes and growing confidence into their next challenge. They face one of only two teams sitting above them in the Western Conference standings. The other, of course, is the 8–0 juggernaut from Oklahoma City.
This will be the first look at the new Spurs, with the 7’5” (and that might be a conservative estimate) Victor Wembanyama erasing almost every attempt opponents make to get a shot off in the paint. Fresh off a summer recharge, Wemby and the Spurs opened the season with a bang. His demolition of Anthony Davis and everyone else the Mavericks tried to put in front of him on opening night is hard to forget, and it instantly pushed the French prodigy to the top of the early MVP and DPOY favorite lists.
This should be a fun matchup that both teams’ superstars might have circled on their calendars. It did not escape the ever-aware and deliberate Victor Wembanyama that he has yet to win a game against Luka Dončić. And you can be sure the ultra-competitive Dončić has his own thoughts about the Frenchman being placed on the pedestal as the league’s next best player. Not that Dončić ever needed extra motivation to put on a Luka special against Wemby and the Spurs, who have long been one of his favorite targets.
Lakers (6-2) vs Spurs (5-1) game facts
Rest: LAL on 1 day of rest; SAS on 2 days of rest
Ranking: LAL 10th in Point Diff (+3.4), SAS 4th in Point Diff (+8.4)
LAL vs SAS 2025-26 record: 3-1
LAL injuries: LeBron James (OUT), Gabe Vincent (OUT), Adou Thiero (OUT), Maxi Kleber (OUT), Austin Reaves (questionable)
SAS injuries: Dylan Harper (OUT), De’Aron Fox (OUT), Luke Kornet (OUT), Kelly Olynyk (questionable), Jeremy Sochan (questionable), Lindy Waters (questionable)
LAL projected starting five: Luka Dončić (G), Austin Reaves (G), Marcus Smart (G), Rui Hachimura (F), Deandre Ayton (C)
LAL key reserves: Jake LaRavia, Jarred Vanderbilt, Dalton Knecht, Jaxon Hayes
SAS projected starting five: Stephon Castle (G), Devin Vassell (G), Julian Champagnie (F), Harrison Barnes (F), Victor Wembanyama (C)
SAS key reserves: Keldon Johnson, Jordan McLaughlin, Carter Bryant, Bismack Biyomb
Key storyline: Is the Lakers’ midrange hot streak the antidote to Wemby’s paint patrol terror?
I’ll get into this in more detail in the next section, but the main challenge when dealing with Wemby and the Spurs is that he makes opponents question taking any shot in any vicinity around him, which is usually the paint.
The Spurs are currently the second-best defense in the NBA, allowing 108.9 points per 100 possessions. Again, the Thunder are in a league of their own at 105.8. But even that elite defensive mark fades compared to the 98.3 points per 100 possessions the Spurs allow with Victor on the floor. When Wembanyama is on the floor, shots at the rim are almost non-existent for Spurs opponents. Instead, they usually have to settle for long midrange attempts, as lineups with Victor rank in the 100th percentile in opponent long midrange frequency. What makes this matchup particularly interesting is that the midrange has been the Lakers’ bread and butter this season. The Lakers are currently the best short and long midrange shooting team in the NBA.
However, the real key for the Lakers is probably to dominate and win the 15 or so minutes when Wembanyama is on the bench. The Spurs’ non-Wembanyama minutes, and especially their defense, have been a mess so far this season. With Luka Kornet, Dylan Harper, and De’Aaron Fox out, and Kelly Olynyk and Jeremy Sochan listed as game-time decisions, taking advantage of those stretches against bench units featuring Bismack Biyombo and Jordan McLaughlin is a must.
Lakers on offense | Spurs on defense
How do the Lakers attack Wembanyama and his tendency to lurk in the paint and swallow up anything that goes up (Wemby is averaging a ridiculous 4.7 blocks per game)?
Patience and structure will be the key. The Lakers will need to be systematic, running more organized sets, especially their stack and other variations of double pick-and-roll counter actions against drop coverage.
The Spurs typically defend with Wembanyama in drop coverage, and historically that has been the only way Victor has handled Dončić-led pick actions. His 95% drop rate on 38 picks defended as a screener against Luka is the highest you will find in tracking data. I am sure Sean Sweeney (more on him in the Spotlight section) will build a plan against Dončić that involves Stephon Castle fighting over screens (Dončić will need to use his eagerness against him and draw fouls) and aggressive gap help to assist Wembanyama in containing Dončić in the pocket.
This is why I think this is the game to counter with second-side and off-ball screening actions for players like Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, and others. Involving the player Wembanyama is guarding in those actions should generate plenty of open midrange looks. Here is an example of the Suns running a handoff action and generating an open midrange look for Collin Gillespie after the initial pick action for Grayson Allen.
This is also another game for Deandre Ayton to show off his free-throw line shooting mastery on pocket passes against Wembanyama in drop coverage.
Spurs on offense | Lakers on defense
The Spurs lost their first game of the season in their last matchup against the Suns, who executed an aggressive plan to limit Wembanyama. He finished that game with only 9 points. The scheme (detailed breakdown here) was to defend the Frenchman with the smaller Royce O’Neale, push him as far out as possible, have near-Laker big man Mark Williams help off his man in the corner, and send a double on the catch when that was not possible. This plan has one flaw. It requires fast and precise rotations, and even then, it is prone to giving up plenty of corner threes.
The Spurs currently lead the NBA in corner three frequency at 14.3 percent, with two solid shooters, Harrison Barnes and Julian Champagnie, typically serving as the designated options in those spots. Both Barnes, with 35 percent of his shots coming from the corners, and Champagnie, at 41 percent, rank near the very top of the league in corner three frequency this season.
I am sure JJ Redick will study the Suns’ Wembanyama plan and look to upgrade it with some of the tactics he used against Nikola Jokić, a matchup he once admitted cost him two nights of sleep. Any scheme Redick comes up with should take advantage of the Spurs’ lack of passing and playmaking around Wembanyama. With Fox and Harper injured, Castle is the only other point guard available, and he is a second-year player with a shaky jumper and a tendency to turn the ball over. None of the other supporting cast members — Vassell, Johnson, Champagnie, or Barnes — are great passers. They are all more score-first players. If the Lakers take care of the ball and keep the younger, more athletic Spurs in a half-court game, they will have a good chance to win.
Player spotlight: Sean Sweeney
I’ll bend the rules here and pick an opposing assistant coach, Sean Sweeney, rather than a player this time. Sweeney was a longtime right hand to Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd, and after being in the mix for several head coaching jobs in the past, he somewhat surprisingly left for an assistant role in San Antonio this summer.
Sweeney was the mastermind behind the Mavericks’ defensive schemes, and if there is anyone who knows how to build a plan to slow down Dončić, he might be the best bet. He also served a role similar to Lakers assistant (and former Mavericks assistant) Greg St. Jean, spending the summer as part of the Slovenian national team’s coaching staff. If we go by how Dončić approaches matchups and the trash talk that usually comes with facing Jamahl Mosley, the Orlando Magic head coach and another former Mavericks defensive assistant who worked closely with him, there is no doubt Dončić will find some extra motivation for this one.
Final thoughts
This should be a fun game. Another clash of styles and a matchup between two of the NBA’s most dynamic superstars, both with just a little more spark than usual. You cannot ask for much more from a regular season game.