Lakers News: Darvin Ham Makes Fascinating Pick For Main Luka Doncic Defender

LA's head coach is thinking outside the box for this assignment.

Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham is wasting no time cooking creative solutions for stopping the most intimidating player for his team's next opponent.

Jovan Buha of The Athletic reports that Ham intends to sic 6'8" starting power forward Jarred Vanderbilt, newly arrived to LA by way of the Utah Jazz, on All-NBA Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic when the two teams square off on Sunday.

Darvin Ham said Jarred Vanderbilt will start as the primary defender against Luka Doncic but the Lakers will throw different looks at him.

— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) February 24, 2023

Ham cautioned that LA will try out different defensive coverages for Doncic, but the team intends to prioritize Vanderbilt, the athletic forward who is already making quite an impression on his head coach and the Crypto.com Arena faithful with his energetic two-way play.

Doncic and his Dallas cohorts absolutely decimated a very different iteration of your Los Angeles Lakers on Christmas Day, in a 124-115 defeat that was not nearly as close as that final score might appear. 

Since that game, the Lakers have shored up their defense thanks to the trade additions of Vanderbilt and center Mo Bamba, while greatly boosting their three-point shooting with D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley, Bamba and Rui Hachimura.

Vanderbilt has the speed and length to pester multiple positions on the floor. It will be interesting to see how Ham balances his minutes with those of fellow new bigs Mo Bamba and Rui Hachimura, plus stars LeBon James and Anthony Davis, neither of whom has been a particularly effective floor spacer this season offensively. Davis is a terrific post defender, while James has not been a great defender on the perimeter for a while now. Containing Doncic and his new All-Star teammate Kyrie Irving will probably be the key to winning Sunday's matchup for Los Angeles. 

LA may be without Russell, who took a nasty spill and sprained his ankle against the Golden State Warriors in a Lakers win Thursday. He is considered doubtful to suit up Sunday.

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