1 Lineup Adjustment Blazers Need to Make Against the Lakers

Looking to stay unbeaten on the road, the Portland Trail Blazers may need to shuffle the lineup to contain Luka Doncic.

Oct 13, 2026: Portland Trail Blazers head coach Micah Nori on the sideline during the fourth quarter against the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

With the Portland Trail Blazers set to continue their road trip in Los Angeles againt the Lakers, it's time for a change. Not necessarily a permanent one, but a change nonetheless.

It may appear as rash thinking considering the absolute heater the Blazers have been on to start the 2026-27 NBA regular season. Besides having already beaten the Lakers on their home floor once this year, Portland's achieved victories over the Sacramento Kings, Utah Jazz, Nikola Jokic's Denver Nuggets, and Devin Booker's Phoenix Suns (twice).

Surely, it would be foolish to tinker with what's not broken. The results should speak themselves. In most cases, this line of thinking is reasonable. But there's an obvious hole in the Blazers' starting lineup, one that needs addressing if they hope to contain Luka Doncic.

Time for the Holiday season

Nov 2, 2026: Denver Nuggets guard Christian Braun controls the ball as Portland Trail Blazers guard Jrue Holiday defends against center Nikola Jokic as center Donovan Clingan looks on in the fourth quarter at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Let's get this over with — Scoot Henderson has been pretty bad in his three starts since Ja Morant went down with a Grade 2 left hamstring strain against his former team the Memphis Grizzlies, Portland's only loss thus far.

Over his starting stint, Henderson's averaged 10.3 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.3 assists, shooting 30.7 percent (8 of 26) overall and 30.7 percent from three (4 of 13). He's been OK defensively most of the year — the on/off advanced stats actually swing in his favor — but against a potent offense such as the Lakers, advanced metrics based off seven games may not mean much.

The Lakers are simply too overwhelming. Per Cleaning The Glass, which excludes garbage time and possessions at the end of quarters, Los Angeles is second in points scored per 100 possessions (121.9), first in effective field goal percentage (60.7 percent), first in free throw rate (30.3 made free throws per 100 field goal attempts), second in rim accuracy (74.6 percent), and second in 3-point percentage (39.1 percent).

And, of course, they're led by Luka Doncic, who scored 41 points against the Blazers in their first meeting, and is orchestrating an absurd offensive campaign. Doncic leads the Lakers averaging 38.5 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 8.0 assists on 49.5 percent shooting from the field, 43.1 percent from three, and is sinking 9.4 free throws on 10.5 attempts (89.3 percent).

Faced with ridiculous statistics like that, it's time to slide Jrue Holiday into the starting five. Toumani Camara should draw the Doncic matchup out the gate and for most of the game, but Portland would be wise to offer some reinforcement on the perimeter that can switch seamlessly onto the Slovenian superstar.

There's a decent chance the Lakers attempt to hunt Damian Lillard on offense; add Henderson into that mix and Portland is setting itself up for massive problems.

Ideally, Lillard and Henderson should sparingly share the floor together — preferably only when Doncic is resting — while the Sidy Cissoko-Camara-Holiday defensive triumvirate do their best to slow down the Lakers' volcanic scoring engine.