Lakers News: Warriors Make Change To Starting Lineup Ahead Of Game 4 Tonight

Golden State is shuffling the deck.

To counteract your humongous Los Angeles Lakers, the Golden State Warriors have elevated six-foot-nothing Gary Payton II to the team's starting five, demoting big man JaMychal Green, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Fun fact: that means a whopping four second-generation NBA players will be starting tonight for Golden State: All-Star point guard Stephen Curry (son of Dell), shooting guard Payton (son of Gary "The Glove"), small forward Klay Thompson (son of ex-Lakers champ Mychal, now an LA radio commentator), and power forward Andrew Wiggins (son of Mitchell). Only Draymond Green, playing as a 6'6" small ball center, is a first-generation NBA player.

The decision to promote Payton into the club's first five comes as something of a surprise to yours truly, as 6'9" Kevon Looney had been the Warriors' starting five across 70 of his 82 regular season games. In the playoffs, an illness forced Warriors head coach Steve Kerr to reduce Looney's minutes over the last two contests, so Kerr opted to shift Looney to a bench role.

LA, meanwhile, is expected to trot out what has been its first five of choice throughout these playoffs: point guard D'Angelo Russell, shooting guard Austin Reaves, All-Star small forward LeBron James, power forward Jarred Vanderbilt and center Anthony Davis. Darvin Ham made a big tweak to help blow open Game 3 for LA, in switching Reaves onto Curry defensively and shifting Vanderbilt onto Draymond Green, while Davis generally guarded JaMychal Green or Kevon Looney. With Payton joining the Warriors starters, how will that impact these assignments? 

Presumably, D'Angelo Russell, who's normally hidden on Andrew Wiggins, will be shifted onto Payton and Davis will be moved onto Wiggins, but time will tell how Darvin Ham opts to espond.

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