LAKERS TO START SAME 5 AS LAST
YEAR EXCEPT AYTON FOR HAYES?The Lakers are making a big mistake in my opinion by once again starting the season with a seriously flawed starting lineup and rotation. We have two glaring holes that are going to come back to bite us hard and put us… https://t.co/SoArN2CzoY pic.twitter.com/sL6aIZGtjl
— LakerTom (@LakerTom) August 15, 2025
Looks about right. I know some people are hoping Smart starts, that’s a short starting 5 and leaves the bench with a playmaking deficit. Rui will start and I don’t think there’s a world where they bench Reaves.
First of all I do not think this a terrible starting five. This unit was playing some of the best defense in the league after the Luka trade. We actually were better defensively than when we had AD and Max. The main factors of our playoff loss was the following. We did not have a quality starting center. Hayes hardly got on the floor, forcing us to play small the entire game. When you are playing a team with size you have to pack the paint which caused rotation problems. The Twolves scored 103 points in the last game. Rudy had 27 points and 24 rebounds. Perimeter defense was obviously not the problem. Ant Man is a super star. He averaged 26 for the series. But on 42% shooting and 33% from 3. That’s good defense. I will take that everyday of the week. Our 2nd unit gave us nothing. Even DFS didn’t contribute much offense. The elimination our reserves scored 4 points. Our lack of depth caused us to over play our starters and they just wore down. I am not worried about the starting five, I am more concerned with the bench.