The first starting quintet that the new Lakers coach has been using

Darvin Ham is preparing for what will be his first season in charge of the Los Angeles Lakers and incidentally the first in his career as head coach in the NBA. After the first practice sessions and thinking about the preseason, he has made several modifications to the system that Californians had been using under his predecessor, Frank Vogel.

The starting lineup that he is employing at the moment is made up of Russell Westbrook, Kendrick Nunn, LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Damian Jones. There are several surprises, first starting from the fact that Kendrick Nunn would be chosen to play as a shooting guard, but this would still be defined since Dennis Schroder has not joined the team due to problems with his visa.

The inclusion of Damian Jones in the starting lineup is perhaps the most unexpected, as even if the idea is to allow Anthony Davis to play in his natural position at power forward, Thomas Bryant seemed like the prime candidate to step into the center role.

There is still a lot to be defined and surely this quintet will not be the one they use definitively for the 2022-23 season, but it does make it clear that Darvin Ham’s intention is to change the dynamic under which he had been playing during the last years.