Lakers demote prominent player from starting lineup with season on line

Nov 30, 2022; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers coach Darvin Ham at a press conference during the game against the Portland Trail Blazers at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

After starting in the first 15 games of the playoffs for the Los Angeles Lakers, D’Angelo Russell will not be getting a 16th start.

The Lakers have decided to move Russell to the bench for Monday’s Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals against the Denver Nuggets, according to Chris Haynes of TNT. Down 0-3 in the series, the Lakers’ season will come to an end if they lose on Monday.

Dennis Schroder, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis will be starting in Game 4. Ex-starter Jarred Vanderbilt will also be coming off the bench, but he had already moved to the second unit in favor of Schroder earlier on in the Denver series (before returning to the starting lineup in Games 2 and 3).

The former All-Star Russell has had a nightmare series against the Nuggets. He is averaging a pitiful 7.0 points and 4.0 assists per game and has posted a plus-minus of -53 in 79 minutes (an enormous swing in a series decided by 22 total points so far). Russell’s shot has almost completely abandoned him in the conference finals (29.6 percent from the floor and 14.3 percent from deep), and he has been getting hunted relentlessly on defense (which the Nuggets have vocally admitted to doing).

For Russell, he will be an unrestricted free agent in the summer. He already showed some frustration with the team earlier in the playoffs and is now being demoted for what could be the final game of his Lakers career.