Does Lakers' Darvin Ham Just Hate Austin Reaves?

What is happening here?

Your Los Angeles Lakers were having trouble gelling with both D'Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves in their starting lineup.

So LA head coach Darvin Ham opted to demote the better player to the bench, for some reason. Ham explained that he wanted to separate that backcourt due to a skill overlap, but he surely must have known that Russell, not Reaves, deserved the benching.

Shocking almost no one, that decision failed to cure what ailed the Lakers' starters, so Ham pivoted, shifting Russell to a reserve role.

With an incredibly obvious starting change seemingly staring him the face, Ham instead decided to pull the trigger on option (c), doubling down on non-shooters and exhausting soon-to-be-39-year-old superstar LeBron James even further by making him a point guard again. He promoted Jarred Vanderbilt into his starting five. Results have been pretty stunning... in the wrong way.

The current first five includes James running the point on offense and being hid as much as possible on defense (usually against a forward), 3-and-D wing Taurean Prince at shooting guard, minimum-salaried Cam Reddish at small forward, Vanderbilt at the four (but typically tasked with taking on tough perimeter defensive assignments defensively), and Anthony Davis at center. This group is insanely shooting-challenged, and any good opposing team's scouting report knows it.

Let's take last night's 126-115 Christmas Day loss to the Boston Celtics, for example. Just look at how much the Boston Celtics opt to pack the paint against the starting group here, leading to an easy rejection of a driving James, with green jerseys draped all over him:

WHAT A BL🚫CK pic.twitter.com/cZPnnIGkpl

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 25, 2023

Davis tried to dance around the issue following a miserable second game from the starters on Christmas (Boston started out on a quick 12-0 run, easily solving the shooting-averse Lakers), while noting that, well, the club wasn't exactly killing the game on offense, per Jovan Buha of The Athletic.

“I think, with the lineup change, just trying to find ways to be effective on the offensive end,” Davis said. “We know that teams are probably not gonna try to guard Vando, so just using him in actions. Like tonight they put Porzingis on him, and (we had) him set ball screens and keeping him in actions. But I think overall, just trying to figure it out.”

When asked if a Reddish-Vanderbilt wing pairing is viable together, Ham said the key is playing faster and trying to use the space provided by defenses against them.

“I just think not allowing it to stagnate us,” Ham said. “If they’re trying to play off, Cam’s got to step up shooting with confidence or eat up that space on the drive. Collapse the defense once he touches the paint and try to find open man. Same thing for Vando. The ball hits him, you just can’t hold it and be confused. You just gotta move on to the next thing, whether it’s a pitch ahead and hit to its teammates, (dribble handoff), or shot goes off, go hunt down off an offensive rebound, get us some extra possessions."

Per Buha, the new starters have been uniquely, unsustainably bad in a wide variety of ways, on both sides of the court, during their time together thus far (small sample size alert, but still, they don't exactly pass the eye test, either):

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

In his third pro season, playing just 29.4 minutes a night thanks to his weirdly reduced role, Reaves is averaging 15.1 points on .477/.368/.880 shooting splits, five assists, 4.7 rebounds and 0.9 steals per bout. His passing acumen and 36.8% three-point shooting rate on 4.6 triple tries per game make him an obvious solution for the Lakers' backcourt to replace James. 

As to who should sit, starting both Reddish and Vanderbilt feels unnecessary. LA may want to keep Vanderbilt, the better defender, in the first five, but he can't shoot worth a lick this season and has been struggling with a lingering heel issue. Rui Hachimura, the fourth-highest compensated player on the team, may be worth a lock in the starting group too, as he was a part of several important lineups during the Celtics loss.