Slipping Lakers Must Make A Starting Lineup Change... Or Two

Suddenly, LA has lost four straight.

Your Los Angeles Lakers are in a major slump. 

The club has gone 1-5 since beating the Indiana Pacers en route to the NBA's first-ever In-Season Tournament championship, a dubious distinction that (A) has no playoff or long-term benefits for the club's future and (B) doesn't even count as a regular season game (the six games leading up to the title matchup do count towards the season, only the actual championship contest does not).

Los Angeles is now 15-14 overall, good for just the No. 10 seed in a deep Western Conference.

It's time for the roster to undergo a little shakeup, and even if Darvin Ham is dragging his feet a bit, another consecutive loss or two should do the trick. LA next faces the 18-8 Oklahoma City Thunder, the West's No. 2 seed, on the road Saturday, and with stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis both questionable to play, along with $51 million reserve power forward Rui Hachimura, the team seems in jeopardy of dropping a fifth straight.

We'v got a pitch for Darvin Ham. It's time to demote D'Angelo Russell.

LA's starting point guard may be putting up respectable numbers (15.3 points on .462/.380/772 shooting splits, 6.3 assists and 3.1 rebounds), but he's just not a winning player in such a big role. Austin Reaves is the better ball handler and shooter. Ham must know that, given that he's already closing games with Reaves in for Russell. Reaves is at least a decent defender, whereas Russell's issues on that end are legion.

Russell's production has also fallen off a cliff during this post-IST swoon. Since that win, he's been averaging 10 points on a .354/.250/.500 slash line, six assists (to two turnovers, which is respectable), 2.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals a night.

Beyond a D-Lo swap, Ham may want to consider removing one of Cam Reddish or Taurean Prince from his first five. Reddish, a good, long wing defender, can't shoot, and isn't nearly as good a wing defender as, say, Jarred Vanderbilt, who at 6'8" is nominally a four but can defend anyone from point guards to power forwards (he's too slight to defend most centers). Prince makes more sense to retain as a starter because of his 3-and-D acumen, but his defense, especially on switches, is just not quite good enough on its own.