Lakers News: Darvin Ham Hints At Lineup Plans For Final Two Preseason Jaunts
It appears that Los Angeles Lakers fans will get a look at new head coach Darvin Ham's anticipated rotations for his current personnel during L.A.'s final two preseason games this year. L.A. will face off against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday and close out their preseason slate with a final matchup against the Sacramento Kings at Arco Arena on Friday.
Los Angeles Times reporter Dan Woike writes that, though stars LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and star-in-name-only-until-he's-traded-in-December Russell Westbrook have not appeared much in games together during the preseason, he intends to play all three, plus Patrick Beverley, for the club's last two warm-up contests.
Davis returned to the floor Sunday for his first preseason action since the Lakers' 105-75 blowout loss against the visiting Sacramento Kings last week. Davis notched an 11-point, 11-board double-double in the Kings contest, across just 15:49 minutes on the hardwood.
On Sunday night, in a 124-121 victory over the Golden State Warriors, Davis poured in 28 points, on 9-for-18 shooting from the field, over a scant 21:25 minutes of floor action. James, Westbrook and Beverley have not suited up since Wednesday's 119-115 overtime loss to the Phoenix Suns.
Ham has employed a variety of starting lineups in his four preseason contests thus far. It will be interesting to see which two players he decides to start alongside his core trio of the two All-Star forwards plus Westbrook. Ham has recently floated the possibility of permanently starting Anthony Davis at center, ahead of new additions Damian Jones and Thomas Bryant. Among the players Ham has opted to start who could get the nod in these last two contests are guards Beverley, Kendrick Nunn, Austin Reaves, and Lonnie Walker IV, or forward Juan Toscano-Anderson. This writer is dubious that power forward Wenyen Gabriel, who jumped center during the Phoenix bout, will carve out a permanent starting role to begin the season.
