Lakers News: Insider Unpacks Top Intriguing Rotations For New-Look LA

With NBA training camps set to open in a little over a month, your Los Angeles Lakers' 2023-24 season is starting to come into focus.

One current Laker, Austin Reaves, is actively participating in the FIBA World Cup festivities this summer. His ex-teammate Dennis Schröder, now subbing in for Fred VanVleet with the Toronto Raptors, is reminding everyone why he's still such a valuable rotation piece on his native Team Germany. Another ex-2023 Laker, Wenyen Gabriel, is playing for South Sudan.

In anticipation of a revamped LA's forthcoming effort to duplicate (or better) its 2023 postseason success, Jovan Buha of The Athletic unpacked five LA lineups he hopes to see this year.

Per head coach Darvin Ham, only LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and, yes, Austin Reaves are the team's three surefire starters. The other two positions (point guard and either power forward or center, depending on how Ham wants to employ Davis during the regular season) are up in the air.

The whole article is well worth a read, but let's break down the three we're most excited about, too.

It was pretty apparently at the start of last season that the Lakers were really missing size, defense, and shooting, all pretty important elements of a winning organization. That was corrected in a big way at the trade deadline, when team president Rob Pelinka balanced out the club's roster and ditched some of its over-the-hill point guards, and it was improved further this summer, in my opinion, thanks especially to the additions of point guard Gabe Vincent and forward Taurean Prince.

Buha's "shooters, shooters, shooters" lineup offers plenty of intrigue, at least in the regular season for as long as D'Angelo Russell remains on the team's roster (I'm dubious he'll stick through the trade deadline): surrounding James and Davis with Russell, Reaves, and Prince on the perimeter.

"Put the Lakers’ three best shooters — Russell, Reaves and Prince — around James and Davis and defenses will be in a bind," writes Buha.

"LeBron at the 5"— another sharpshooting, small-ball lineup, this time with Vincent — could be a lot of fun to see trotted out.

"Last season, Lakers lineups with James at center outscored opponents by 11.6 points per 100 possessions. That’s an exceptional mark," Buha writes.

Second-year shooting guard Max Christie, who has the makings of a 3-and-D wing, would be slotted next to Vincent in the backcourt, while Prince would play at small forward, and newly re-signed power forward Rui Hachimura would serve at the four. The 6'8" (or, let's be real, 6'9"), 250 (more like 275)-pound James serving at the five has been explored by Ham before, most notably during the playoffs where the coach tried out James and Hachimura at center behind Davis, ahead of legit reserve fives Mo Bamba, Wenyen Gabriel and Tristan Thompson.

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