SAN FRANCISCO — Lost in the frustration of the Lakers’ road loss to the Suns on Thursday was the fact coach JJ Redick made a change that should benefit the team in the long run.
The Lakers adjusted their rotation to allow Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves to be on the floor more, while also having LeBron James play longer in lineups without the team’s star guards — a decision that data suggested is the right move.
In the team’s three previous games before Thursday, with Reaves rejoining the starting lineup after being on a playing-time restriction pre-All-Star break, the Lakers’ rotation went in this pattern after starting games with Doncic, Reaves, James, Marcus Smart and Deandre Ayton:
- Smart and Ayton would be the first Lakers to be subbed out, with Jake LaRavia and Jaxson Hayes subbing in;
- Rui Hachimura would sub in for James not too long after the initial sub if he didn’t come in with LaRavia and Hayes, keeping Doncic and Reaves on the floor for a minute or two without James until Luke Kennard subbed in for Reaves;
- Reaves and James would be on the court to start the second quarter without Doncic, who played most if not all of the first quarter;
- Doncic would close out the last six to seven minutes of the second, with Reaves and James getting breaks in the middle of the quarter before subbing back in for the final few minutes of the half.
The pattern, which the Lakers also followed in the second half, led to James and Reaves playing most of their minutes together — 30.2 per game in the first three games after the break, including about 10 minutes without Doncic on the floor. And if the Lakers played lineups with just one of their stars on the floor, Doncic would usually lead those groups.
That changed against the Suns.
Doncic and Reaves were the ones who were on the floor together more — 36 minutes in Phoenix — while James opened the second and fourth quarters without either of them on the floor for a few minutes. James and Reaves barely played without Doncic also on the floor against the Suns.
The decisions align with positive season-long trends for the Lakers.
Lineups with Doncic and Reaves on the floor and James on the bench have outscored opponents by 11.9 points per 100 possessions, according to databallr, compared with lineups with James and Reaves on the floor without Doncic being outscored by 4.2 points per 100 possessions.
And among lineups with just one of the team’s stars on the floor, James-led units fared better than Doncic- or Reaves-led lineups.
The change, at least by the numbers, didn’t initially pay off.
The Lakers were outscored by five points in the 11 minutes Doncic and Reaves were on the floor without James.
The James-led groups didn’t play at their expected level, either.
The Lakers were at their best when all three were on the floor, which is ironic considering that hasn’t been the case for most of the season.
They outscored the Suns by 16 points in the 25 minutes the trio played — which also means they were outscored by 19 points in the 23 minutes that had any other lineup not featuring Doncic, James and Reaves on the floor together.
Whether the Lakers will stick with the change in rotation patterns will be a trend to follow. But the adjustment is worth seeing through based on how the season has gone.
