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Lakers News: LA, Wizards Reveal Starting 5s Ahead of Must-Win for LA

The Lakers need to ride this momentum into the playoffs.

Martand Bhagavatula

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Just 1.5 games out of the 8th seed and 2.5 games out of the 6th seed, the Lakers are in prime position to sneak into the upper half of the play-in, if not the playoffs altogether.

With their second-to-last "easy" game left on the calendar (they face Memphis on April 12th), LA will need to avoid the nonsense as they take on the Washington Wizards. Coming off of a win against the Bucks, the 16-51 Wizards are about as turnover-prone and undisciplined as they come, but they have some talent around the roster and played the Lakers extremely close in late February, taking them to overtime.

For the Lakers, they'll roll out their 14-6 starting lineup of Austin Reaves, D'Angelo Russell, Anthony Davis, LeBron James, and Rui Hachimura. This group has found its niche as LA's best offensive group by far.

For the Wizards, they'll trot out Jordan Poole, Corey Kispert, Kyle Kuzma, Deni Avdija, and Tristan Vukcevic. This group is set to make their first start together as normal starting center Marvin Bagley III is out with a knee injury.

Expect LA to win this game comfortably, but it wouldn't be shocking if it's close for longer than it should be, similar to last night's win against Toronto.

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Martand Bhagavatula

MARTAND BHAGAVATULA

Martand is currently a student at the University of Southern California, and has prior experience in the NIL space, sports financial advisory, and publishing in sports analytics. As a Lakers, Chargers, and Angels fan, he often finds himself disappointed.