The Los Angeles Lakers pivoted away from the LeBron James era this offseason in favor of a starting lineup centered around All-Star Luka Doncic and newly extended shooting guard Austin Reaves.
In free agency, the Lakers also added projected starting center Walker Kessler to the roster coached by JJ Redick. To state the obvious, the new Lakers roster is centered around “white guys,” which Redick himself acknowledged in a press conference with general manager Rob Pelinka on Thursday.
Reporters asked Redick about the potential Lakers starting lineup on Thursday, and it seems that the coach has seen some of the memes and jokes crafted online this offseason about the Lakers perhaps choosing to use a starting lineup that features five white players.
“I’m pretty confident in three of the spots (in starting lineup),” Redick said, referring to Doncic, Reaves, and Kessler. “The other two spots will not be two white guys.”
Redick’s answer seemed to shock Pelinka, who leaned his head back and flashed a smirk while seated next to the Lakers coach.
The media member who asked Redick the question about the starting lineup during the press conference also seemed flustered by the coach’s reply.
Yes, Redick indeed went there.
During the 2022-23 NBA season, 82.3 percent of all players were minorities, with 70.4 percent being African-American, according to a report released by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES). At the time, 17.5 percent of NBA players were white.
The racial makeup of the league would make it a statistical anomaly for a NBA team to feature a starting lineup with only white players, but it certainly is not impossible.
While Redick said the Lakers will not do it to start the upcoming season, there may be Los Angeles lineups that feature five white players at times. The Lakers return potential bench rotation pieces in forward Jake LaRavia and Dalton Knecht, while they also added forward Sandro Mamukelashvili on a four-year, $52 million contract in July.
It is plausible that we could see at least two of those players share the floor with Doncic, Reaves and Kessler throughout the season, but we will just have to wait and see how Redick tinkers with the lineup during the year.
More likely starting candidates alongside the aforementioned trio Redick named are veteran guards Quentin Grimes and Collin Sexton. Grimes signed a four-year, $60 million deal with the Lakers in the summer, while Sexton inked a two-year pact for $19.2 million that includes a player option for the second year.
The Lakers will begin their preseason against the Sacramento Kings on Oct. 5, and their first regular season matchup is scheduled for Oct. 21 in a home game versus the Golden State Warriors.
