SAN ANTONIO — Lakers coach JJ Redick alluded to possible changes after Tuesday night’s road loss to the Phoenix Suns.
Just one day later, a significant change was made.
Rookie forward Dalton Knecht replaced Cam Reddish in the starting lineup ahead of Wednesday night’s road game against the San Antonio Spurs, rejoining the first unit alongside LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura.
The last time the Lakers shook up their starting lineup, replacing D’Angelo Russell with Reddish, it was to provide more balance in the opening unit.
But this time, the Lakers leaned into their offensive identity by inserting Knecht back into the first unit after he had the best stretch of his brief NBA career as a starter.
Knecht averaged 23.8 points (60.3% shooting, 57.6% from 3-point range) and 4.8 rebounds in four games (35.2 minutes) as a starter from Nov. 15-21, a stretch when the Lakers went 3-1, while Hachimura was sidelined because of a sprained left ankle.
Hachimura replaced Knecht as a starter ahead of Saturday’s home loss to the Denver Nuggets, with Knecht averaging 8 points and 4.5 rebounds as a reserve in the Lakers’ past two games, both losses, before moving back into the starting lineup.
“He’s gotten some good looks,” Redick said Tuesday. “And maybe there is something to the flow that he can get to and the rhythm that he can get to if he’s a starter. Like I’ve said to you guys, everything is always up for discussion in our coaches’ meetings. So we’ll look at everything.”
The Lakers were without backup center Jaxson Hayes (ankle), who aggravated his ankle injury in the final minute of the loss to the Suns.
More to come on this story.