Lakers News: Anthony Davis Reveals Whether Darvin Ham Will Stick To Struggling Starting 5

Armed with a new, temporary, jumbo-sized starting five against the Charlotte Hornets on Thursday night, your Los Angeles Lakers managed to pull off a resounding 133-112 victory, during which 30+ year-old superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis didn't play one iota in the game's first quarter.

Small forward Cam Reddish sat out with a sore left groin, leaving Ham to mercifully bring in someone who could shoot. It wasn't Austin Reaves, who's been the obvious choice to start at point guard for most of the season. It was 6'8" power forward Rui Hachimura, who started next to 6'8" power forward Jarred Vanderbilt and 6'9" power forward LeBron James, alongside shooting guard Taurean Prince and center Anthony Davis.

This big, more shooting-centric lineup worked wonders, albeit against an ailing and obviously inferior opponent.

Per Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times, Davis for one is convinced that head coach Darvin Ham's preferred starting lineup, with Reddish in for Hachimura, is here to stay.

“I think that’s going to be the lineup. And that first group — me, Bron, TP [Prince], Cam, Vando — we just got to keep logging minutes and keep figuring it out, especially on the defensive end," Davis said. "We’re all five defensive-minded players and we like playing defense so we’ll keep figuring out these schemes and how we can be better, and then, offensively, we’ll just figure it out.”

That lineup has posted some comically abysmal numbers during its 18 minutes together, and pretty clearly does not work.

Lakers' new starting lineup in 18 minutes:
- 105.0 offensive rating (worse than 30th-ranked Spurs)
- 125.0 defensive rating (worse than 30th-ranked Wizards)
- -20.0 net rating (worse than 30th-ranked Spurs)
- 40.0 eFG%
- 46.8 TS%

Minuscule sample size but it's been a disaster.
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) December 26, 2023

We know Ham is prioritizing size and defense, but even subbing in Hachimura seems to work wonders for the club.

“Defense is the foundation. It’s our theme,” Ham said postgame. “It has to be our identity.”

Davis, for one, enjoyed a prolific game, scoring 26 points on 11-of-19 shooting splits, grabbing eight rebounds, blocking four shots, swiping two steals, and dishing out two dimes.