Lakers News: Darvin Ham's Plans For LA Starting 5 Revealed In Must-Win Game 4

Will he shake things up?

Apr 14, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham slaps hands with center Anthony Davis. / Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham was sufficiently blunt when it came to unpacking how he would handle his starting lineup heading into tonight's must-win Game 4, in LA's ongoing first round playoff contest against the Denver Nuggets.

Denver leads Los Angeles 3-0. No club in NBA history has yet to rally back from that hole, in 151 previous tries. A similar iteration of these Lakers numbers among that group, having just fallen 0-4 to Denver in the Western Conference Finals last spring.

While Ham opted to close LA's 112-105 Game 3 loss by subbing in reserve forward Taurean Prince for starter Rui Hachimura and backup point guard Spencer Dinwiddie for starter D'Angelo Russell, it appears that he'll stick with his first five for now, a group that also includes the team's three best players in All-Stars Anthony Davis and LeBron James, plus shooting guard Austin Reaves.

"I'm not changing my starting lineup," Ham said after a team practice in El Segundo Friday, according to ESPN's Dave McMenamin. Last year, Ham did indeed make a starting switch, demoting Russell for his backup at the time, Dennis Schröder. To be fair, this year's version of Spencer Dinwiddie is no 2022-23 Dennis Schröder. LA also still lost that game anyway.

Russell scored zero points on 0-for-7 shooting from the floor on Thursday, so there is understandably growing concern that he's not quite up for the moment.

"You want to give your players a chance to make good for themselves," Ham explained. "There were questions about that after Game 1 and you saw what we did in Game 2. He got back in the gym, as he's always done, and worked on his stuff. And he provided a great source of income in Game 2. Although we came up short, he was one of the reasons we were able to be in the game."

Los Angeles will be without key defensive reserve forward Jarred Vanderbilt and Cam Reddish, plus little-used rookie guard Jalen Hood-Schifino. Power forward/center Christian Wood's status for the contest is up in the air.

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