Lakers News: Training Camp May Determine Darvin Ham's New Perimeter Lineups
After it was announced yesterday that the Lakers were bringing back former 2020-21 starting point guard Dennis Schröder, a lot of us here at All Lakers wondered how soon a subsequent Russell Westbrook trade would be announced. Apparently, we may be waiting for a while.
Marc Stein reports that, somewhat surprisingly, the Lakers are currently envisioning Westbrook as a big part of their backcourt rotation heading into the team's training camp, which opens later this month. The 6'3" point guard, a former nine-time All-Star, had a miserable 2021-22 season: he was inefficient, made poor choices late in the game when it mattered most, and struggled to keep many of his opponents in front of him.
His addition further crowds L.A.'s backcourt, already packed with a bunch of non-All-Star veteran guards. Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverley were both starters last year on their respective clubs, while Schröder was a part-time starter playing big minutes in Boston (though he got less run in Houston). Lonnie Walker IV, on a $6.4 million mid-level deal, almost surely expects to get significant run time.
Some time will also surely be allocated to intriguing second-year guard Austin Reaves, a diamond in the rough whom the Lakers uncovered after he went undrafted in 2021.
Stein supplies some intel on how the Lakers front office and coaching staff may envision its rotation along the wing.
So apparently Westbrook and Schroder will be given the first crack at point guard rotation minutes, 6'1" Patrick Beverley and 6'2" Kendrick Nunn will serve as shooting guards, and 6'5" Austin Reaves will spot LeBron James at small foward. Essentially, Los Angeles is looking to move Beverley, Nunn and Reaves all up a position to make this work. Beverley can convincingly defend bigger guards, but Nunn can barely guard point guards and would presumably get smothered on the other end.
Stein doesn't mention the fate of 6'4" shooting guard Lonnie Walker IV, but presumably L.A. is going to miscast him as a small forward and make him duke it out with Reaves, along with free agent signings Juan Toscano-Anderson and Troy Brown Jr.?
There just aren't enough minutes to go around. Brown's scoring underwhelmed in limited minutes with the Chicago Bulls' rotation last year, though he showed flashes on defense. Second-round draft pick Max Christie, a shooting guard out of Michigan State, will most likely feel the rotation squeeze as well.
Consider this writer dubious that this experiment will prove effective. Westbrook should be traded for help at the power forward spot (and, ideally, more three-point shooting along the wing), even if it takes multiple first-round picks to do it. There was chatter of L.A. possibly including a future first-round selection and the right to swap future picks, which seems reasonable.
