The Los Angeles Lakers are once again fighting tooth and nail to make the NBA Playoffs this season. The Lakers, who were regarded as one of the league’s top title contenders entering the season, appear to be headed to the Play-In Tournament for the third time in four years.
That is clearly not where the Lakers want to be, and if the team is going to make the top six in the West, it needs to start winning soon. The Lakers are running out of time, and if this ship is going to turn around, it must happen quickly.
To accomplish this, head coach Darvin Ham must make modifications and begin playing his top players. The Lakers now do not have the luxury of doing so due to injuries, but once the team is healthy, multiple players should be benched.
Lakers need to bench Jaxson Hayes
Jaxson Hayes has done an adequate job of filling in as the team’s sole real center while Christian Wood is injured, but he has yet to meet expectations. Lakers fans expected Hayes to be a young, athletic rim protector, but he’s just reminded everyone why he was a minimum signing after four years.
Hayes rarely plays when the rotation is at full strength, and this is for a purpose. When Wood returns, even with his poor defense, the Lakers must give him the playing time that Hayes is receiving and bench the young man.
Maybe he can play in a playoff series to rough up Nikola Jokic and pick up a few fouls, but that will be the extent of his impact. The Lakers have a five-point lower net rating while Hayes is on the court, demonstrating that he is not someone who should be playing with the season on the line.
Lakers need to bench Taurean Prince
Darvin Ham has adored Taurean Prince all season. Prince, a glorified role player who had been released by his former team to save money, became a regular in Ham’s starting lineup, frequently playing more than 30 minutes every night.
Ham eventually realized his mistake and replaced Prince in the starting lineup with Jarred Vanderbilt. After Vando was injured, Ham turned to Rui Hachimura to take over for Prince, indicating that he is improving as a coach.
All that being said, Prince is still getting valuable playing time off the bench for the Lakers, which will not be the case come April and May.
Prince has been a negative for the Lakers every time he steps on the court, and the team has to reduce its rotation and play its top players.
Once Vanderbilt returns from injury, there is no reason to include Prince in the rotation. Despite his offensive shortcomings, Vando is a significantly superior defensive choice than Prince, while Hachimura is far ahead of him on the offensive end.
Cam Reddish is also healthy now, which eliminates the need to play Prince for any minutes. He can still play some garbage time during the regular season, but when things get truly rough, Prince’s playing time must vanish.
Lakers need to bench Spencer Dinwiddie
Spencer Dinwiddie is the newest member of the Los Angeles Lakers, so it may seem unexpected to suggest that the Lakers bench him down the stretch. While new players are normally given the opportunity to earn playing time, it has been evident immediately that Dinwiddie may not be the solution the Lakers were hoping for.
To be fair, Dinwiddie struggled this season before moving to Los Angeles. Dinwiddie wasn’t playing particularly well for the Brooklyn Nets, and if he had true value, the Toronto Raptors would have kept him.
Unfortunately, he was traded and waived, and he has since maintained his terrible performance with the Lakers. Dinwiddie was initially signed as a backup plan in case D’Angelo Russell flopped. Now it’s evident that the Lakers can’t rely on Dinwiddie and may require a backup plan for his rotation spot.
Dinwiddie plays 23.8 minutes per game as a Laker, averaging 5.5 points, 3.6 assists, and 1.1 turnovers. Dinwiddie’s shooting percentages are much worse: 36.4% from the field and 29.6% from beyond the arc.
It is a small sample size, but Dinwiddie is not some exceptional player who is suffering with a little sample size. Dinwiddie’s troubles have been ongoing for some time, and it’s likely that they will continue as the season progresses.
The Lakers cannot afford to give Dinwiddie unlimited time to figure things out. The team owes him nothing, and if Gabe Vincent returns, he should take up Dinwiddie’s minutes right away.
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