Lakers News: Darvin Ham Reveals Fresh Starters For Clippers Game
Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham has announced his club's starting five for tonight's matchup against the mighty Los Angeles Clippers, per Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
The Clips are currently 27-14 on the year, while the 22-22 Lakers are hoping to improve to a single game over .500.
D'Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves will once again start in the backcourt (but for how many more games remains an open question, as trade rumors swirl), wing Taurean Prince will step in as the club's starting small forward, Rui Hachimura will play in the stead of the injured LeBron James at power forward, and All-Star center Anthony Davis will man the middle.
Interestingly, an injury to Prince led to Hachimura returning to a 12th Ham starting lineup for LA's 134-110 blowout over the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday. I am wholly in favor of this becoming a permanent fix, as Hachimura's size alongside LeBron James equips the Lakers with a bulky and lengthy starting frontcourt, with plenty of offensive optionality. Prince was considered a 3-and-D find when he signed on with the Lakers this summer, but his much-vaunted perimeter coverage hasn't been quite as amazing now that we're seeing him up close. At least he can still hit a trey, though (he's making 38.5% of his 5.5 triple tries a night).
