Lakers Rotation Talk With Jovan Buha and Trevor Lane

The fifth starter, how the minutes might shake out, opportunities for the young wave, and more...

Ziaire Williams / photo by Allen Berezovsky / Getty Images

We are officially in the lull of the summer, probably the quietest stretch of the entire NBA calendar.

There’s still no resolution on the Jonathan Kuminga horizon, and there have been no new deals or transactions to dissect. So your Substack correspondent is taking advantage of the lull to enjoy some time at my summer house in Croatia, while also trying to find good enough internet at the peak of tourist season to watch Collin Sexton games. Yes, the Young Bull profile is in the works and coming next in our player profile series.

My loyal companion Bugi, scanning the horizon for Kuminga news or a good wind forecast. So far, no luck on either front.

Thankfully, the mobile network gets a little better later in the evening, once the kids streaming games and all kinds of short videos finally go to bed. So I did manage to hop on Jovan Buha’s Buha’s Block podcast with Jovan and Trevor Lane to talk about the Lakers’ rotation, the fifth starter, how the minutes might shake out, and plenty more.

So today, I’m sharing the podcast along with a couple of short notes from our conversation. Tomorrow, after a week of heat-wave weather without much of a breeze, we finally have some good wind in the forecast. Hopefully, some windsurfing will make the daily wait for a better internet connection and the Collin Sexton film grind a little more bearable.

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Updated Lakers rotation chart and the last starting spot

The key part of our discussion with Jovan and Trevor was what the Lakers should do with the fifth starting spot if no more moves are made before the start of the season, assuming Quentin Grimes is the fourth starter alongside the core trio of Luka Dončić, Austin Reaves, and Walker Kessler.

We all agreed that none of the current alternatives feels like a permanent solution. They are more of a “wait until a better option comes along” type of solution, something that could remain fluid throughout the season.

After our conversation, I found myself leaning toward Ziaire Williams as my preferred stopgap starter. I think Sandro Mamukelashvili should be the first big man off the bench, the role in which he excelled in Toronto. And given Matisse Thybulle’s injury history, I would carefully manage his minutes and workload rather than pencil him in as an everyday starter.

That leaves, at least for me, two former Grizzlies teammates as the most logical candidates for the final starting spot: Williams and Jake LaRavia. I do think LaRavia should not be overlooked. If his three-point shooting bounces back, he should, despite all the other additions, be an important rotation player this season.

In the end, though, I leaned toward Williams because of his length, athleticism, and ability to cover space, which I think makes him a better complement to the other four starters and provides a key ingredient this starting lineup needs.

So, based on all of that, here is my updated Lakers rotation chart:

Full Lakers talk with Jovan and Trevor

Here is the full video of our conversation on Jovan Buha’s Buha’s Block. A few of the highlights from our conversation:

• Who we think could and should, be the fifth starter if the Lakers don’t make any more moves.

• What happens at backup center, and how much, if anything, Kevon Looney has left in the tank.

• Why I think there could be a rotation crunch in the backcourt.

• What I think history tells us about JJ Redick and what that could mean for the minutes distribution.

• How much of an opportunity the young guns, Cameron Carr and Adou Thiero, will and should get.

• Who we think could be the 16th man and the odd man out if the Lakers need to cut the roster from 16 to 15 before the season.

That’s it for today. Bugi and I will now return to our main summer job: staring at the horizon and waiting for either Kuminga news or wind. So far, the wind forecast looks more promising.