Would Julius Randle and the Los Angeles Lakers benefit from coming off the bench?

Starting lineup will benefit, too

It’s not often when swapping Julius Randle for Larry Nance Jr. will improve a lineup, but this move does boost the starting five for the Los Angeles Lakers. I’m not comparing which player has the better overall skill-set or more upside in the long run. What I am saying is that Nance Jr. is a better fit for the current group of Lakers starting the game.

This move won’t impact the projected starting backcourt of Lonzo Ball and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, but Nance Jr. does the little things that don’t show up on the stat sheet well and is a better defender than Randle at the moment. He also doesn’t the need ball to be effective, which allows the Lakers to run their offense directly through Brandon Ingram and Brook Lopez.

The Lakers management team has been on the record saying they want Brandon Ingram to lead the team in scoring this season, so having Randle on the court for most of his on-court minutes takes away opportunities from Ingram. These two can play together, but I’m excited to see how Ingram handles a more advanced role offensively.

We shouldn’t undersell how consistent of a scorer Brook Lopez has been over the course of his career either. He is the Lakers’ best half-court option with his post game and is developing a strong 3-point shot that opens the floor for teammates. Like Ingram, Lopez can play with Randle. However, having Nance Jr. roam allows Lopez to do what he does best, which is get buckets for a team that desperately needs half-court scoring.