Lakers to stick with new youthful starting lineup?
Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton appears to like what he sees in his new starting lineup.
After the Lakers blew out the New York Knicks on Monday night with a new starting five featuring Tarik Black in place of Timofey Mozgov and rookie Brandon Ingram instead of Luol Deng, Walton indicated that he could stick with the unit moving forward.
“I’m not going to say it’s permanent, but we’re going to see how it goes,” Walton said, per Bill Oram of the Orange County Register. “If they come out and have a bad first quarter, we’re not going to just blow it all up and go to the other starting lineup to start the second half. We know they’re young and that’s part of why we’re doing it.”
At 18-36 on the year and with a snowball’s chance in hell of making the playoffs, the Lakers have all the reason in the world to use the rest of the year to develop their young players. But the $136 million that the front office committed to Mozgov and Deng this past offseason puts Walton in a tough spot. Still when you consider moves like these, the Lakers could very well be on the verge of some major changes, and a full-on youth movement would be a great place to start.
