Lakers News: Cam Reddish Deserves To Start, But Austin Reaves Was The Wrong Demotion

Allow us to explain.

Freshly-anointed Los Angeles Lakers starting shooting guard Cam Reddish seems to have legitimately earned his stripes across his first few games in LA's starting lineup.

A raw, athletic, super-long talent, the 6'8" Reddish is on his fourth team in his fifth NBA season, on a minimum-salaried deal. It's a far cry from being the 10th pick out of Duke in the 2019 NBA draft, but his story is far from over.

In his four games as the team's full-time starter (he also had two fill-in stints as a spot starter earlier this year, but we're not counting those here since he was more of a substitute), he has averaged 15.3 points on .537/.524/.857 shooting splits, 3.3 rebounds, 2.8 steals and an assist per game, while registering a +8.3 plus-minus.

He's a versatile defender, still prone to some awareness issues but generally an intriguing talent on that end. The shooting has been a pleasant surprise, and while we're sure the field goal and three-point numbers won't sustain at quite that level over the course of a full season, he's certainly looked very comfortable letting fly beyond the paint this year, more so than he really had for much of his time with the Atlanta Hawks, New York Knicks or Portland Trail Blazers.

Head coach Darvin Ham, frustrated with the porous backcourt combination of D'Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves (neither of whom had started the year shooting particularly well, but that's improved a bit with Reddish starting), decided to demote Reaves, a more highly-regarded long-term investment, rather than Russell, despite what we know about Russell's shortcomings when it matters most -- the postseason.

For the record, I'm happy with Cam Reddish showing out as a starter for LA. The bench demotion I wanted, though, was Russell, not Reaves. Reaves is the better defender and, when he's right at least, the better shooter, especially during clutch moments. At 25 and in just his third NBA season, he's also got more upside than his older, more established former backcourt mate. I would rather have seen Reaves shifted to the starting point guard role, with more ball handling duties, than watch him moved into more of a sixth man gig.

But maybe this is all being done with an eye on the forthcoming trade deadline, and Darvin Ham is just playing some 4D chess on us. Because D-Lo is being featured a lot more prominently these days, and there's no denying that he and Reaves seem better apart than together.

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