Lakers News: Warriors Make Surprising Change To Starting Five Vs LA

Golden State got innovative with this one.

Set to tip off shortly, Darvin Ham and his Los Angeles Lakers will need to come up with some creative counters to a unique Golden State Warriors starting five, making its debut this season:

Tonight’s starters. Warriors mixing things up and going smaller with Draymond Green at center. pic.twitter.com/6WYxNrMHhc

— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) January 28, 2024

Steve Kerr has chosen to go small ahead of a game where the Warriors are already much smaller, as instead of starting Dario Saric and Kevon Looney, who have been starting as of late, they'll trot Draymond Green out at the small-ball center, while Jonathan Kuminga and Andrew Wiggins join him as wings. 

Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry will run the Warriors backcourt as expected, forming a duel between two high-powered offensive duos, as they'll look to limit the red-hot D'Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves. 

Golden State tried something similar in the Western Conference Semifinals twice against the Lakers, but instead of Kuminga, it was JaMychal Green once, and Gary Payton II another time. LA found ways to counter Green but not Payton II, so we'll see if Golden State has more up their sleeve, or this ends up advantaging the Lakers.