Lakers News: Starters Announced For Shorthanded LA Against Milwaukee

Will we be seeing any new guys tonight?

Your Los Angeles Lakers could be in trouble when they host the Milwaukee Bucks tonight.

Per Mike Trudell of Spectrum SportsNet, LA's five newest pieces, acquired during the last 24 hours leading up to the league's trade deadline, will not be suiting up with the club tonight. 

Trudell adds that new starting point guard D'Angelo Russell, presumable new starting shooting guard Malik Beasley, new backup big Jarred Vanderbilt, and new deep-bench wing Davon Reed may all be available for Los Angeles on Saturday, when the team squares off against a slightly-revamped post-deadline Golden State Warriors club.

Now, the Lakers have announced tonight's starting lineup for what's feeling like a schedule loss against the Milwaukee Bucks, with so many new faces still en route. 

Dennis Schröder will get the starting point guard nod, tantalizing rookie shooting guard Max Christie will start at the two spot, sneaky-good swingman Troy Brown Jr. will start at small forward, combo forward Rui Hachimura will move up a spot to power forward in the absence of LeBron James, and star center Anthony Davis will man the middle. Austin Reaves, Lonnie Walker IV, and Wenyen Gabriel seem likely to be the Lakers' core reserves.

Dave McMenamin of ESPN sketched out his own projected depth chart once all of the Lakers' new pieces are available to suit up (which would be Monday at the earliest, due to Mo Bamba's current suspension):

Phew. pic.twitter.com/ugkVs6RxvU

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) February 9, 2023

Austin Reaves is a solid player, but Malik Beasley just gives you so much more three-point shooting that I think he should quickly leapfrog Reaves and Walker in Darvin Ham's rotation.