Los Angeles Lakers downsizing their lineups with Larry Nance Jr. injured

Already thin at the 4 and now missing Larry Nance Jr. for 4-6 weeks with a fractured hand, the Los Angeles Lakers are downsizing and using more 3-guard lineups with small frontcourts to cope with his absence.

The Los Angeles Lakers have won their first two games without starting forward Larry Nance Jr., who will miss 4-6 weeks after fracturing his hand. The Lakers improved to 5-5 on the season with a close win over the Memphis Grizzlies,107-102, holding off a late rally after leading by as many as 22 points in the 2nd half. 

Although the Lakers will miss Nance in the time he’s sidelined, this does present head coach Luke Walton with an opportunity to try out different lineups, beginning with the starting five.

Nance missing time inserts Kyle Kuzma into the starting lineup. Kuzma gets the nod over Julius Randle, who is finding success coming off the bench as a 5. Nance and Brook Lopez were building chemistry as a frontcourt pairing, but Lopez shouldn’t be too disappointed starting next to Kuzma, who figures to be the largest benefactor with extra playing time.

Kuzma’s shooting ability takes spacing pressure off of Lopez and allows the big man more space when posting up. Lopez is a good passer that found Kuzma on a couple of easy looks around the rim after Kuzma cut to the basket. Despite making a career out of dominating the post, it doesn’t hurt that Lopez has made 10 3-point shots in the two games Nance has missed.

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Lonzo Ball has the ideal leak-out player in Kuzma from the start and gives him another scorer to facilitate to. With Brandon Ingram getting guarded by opponent’s top wing defender, Kuzma can go to work against lesser defenders or vice versa once Kuzma gets going. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is getting open looks with everybody else worried about the four scoring threats around him.

Nance can attack the offensive glass, set good screens and knock down the occasional midrange jumper, but his defenders sag off and help on drives or post-ups. Players guarding Kuzma have to honor his shot, which presents teammates maximum space to operate. This why the 5-out offense the new starting lineup runs is so effective: five good shooters leads to open looks, which leads to efficient offense.

Taking Kuzma off the bench naturally weakens the Lakers’ second unit and limits their options for frontcourt pairings. Instead of opting to move Randle down to the 4 and playing him with Andrew Bogut or Ivica Zubac, the Lakers have kept Randle at the 5 and paired him with natural wings to maintain optimum floor-spacing for Randle.

The Lakers have played Kuzma at the 3 and 4 throughout the season, so there’s no real adjustment for him to make now playing strictly at the 4, but the Lakers are using Brandon Ingram and Corey Brewer as makeshift 4s in lineups to cope without Nance.

Kuzma and Randle have continued to log minutes together despite Nance’s injury, something that is nice to see coach Walton stick with after their games are starting to blossom together. Randle, in particular, is enjoying the new partnership. He’s finishing through undersized 4s and blowing by 4s and 5s alike, including a pair of spin move finishes against Memphis.

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With little to no depth on the wing, the Lakers are using 3-guard lineups when Ingram or Brewer upsize to the 4. With Brewer at the 4, the guards take on a larger scoring role and benefit from the space created by him spotting-up. When Ingram is on the floor, he should have a quickness advantage on the 4s matched up with him, including a trio of drive and finishes over Marc Gasol.

These 3-guard lineups could have been figured to be involved at some point in the season with the Lakers boasting a guard-heavy roster. What makes these rotations playable is their collective size as guards. Tyler Ennis is the only guard not 6’5” and he doesn’t see the court frequently, giving the Lakers players that can handle the upsize in defending a likely advantage in quickness offensively.

The ability to play Ingram consistently at the 4 depends on his ability to rebound and handle the physicality of the paint. He is starting to understand how to use his length to alter shots and drives around the basket, but the game playing four and sometimes five players out means Ingram won’t be stuck battling in the post often, although he did well when switched onto Gasol at one point in the Memphis game.

One way to counter a lack of rim protection is to stop them from getting into the paint in the first place. The Lakers’ rotations have to be spot-on to play this type of defense effectively, but it’s nice to have the athleticism and length to recover when they miss a rotation or surrender an open look. So far these small lineups are showing great activity and working well together on the defensive end.

There’s even an opportunity to test out an Ingram-Kuzma frontcourt and go 5-out offensively with switch-ability on the defensive end. Kuzma and Ingram could struggle with rim protection, but the offensive upside playing these two together with three guards is too fun to ignore. Teams will likely downsize themselves to match this frontcourt, presenting chances to take advantage of their lack of size.

Ivica Zubac and Andrew Bogut haven’t appeared in each of the last two games with Zubac only playing two minutes the whole season. Bogut is the logical option for some spot minutes if needed, but neither figure to fit into the current small-ball system the Lakers are running. Randle can post up when needed, and is a capable at finding cutters out of the post.

With all of this being said, Larry Nance Jr. is a solid player for the Lakers that does the little things as good as anybody on the team. He’s exciting to watch as a fan, and is a visibly supportive teammate from the bench. He fits the roster well, is only 24 years old and has improved his game each season.

Nance is averaging career highs in points, minutes played, rebounds and field goal percentage in the eight games he started, so this injury came at an inopportune time. In the meantime, the Los Angeles Lakers are using this time to experiment with small-ball lineups and give Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram more chances to play at their destined 4-spot.

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The Los Angeles Lakers may have a tough call on their hands if they keep playing this well when Nance returns from injury. Regardless of who starts, it’s a positive for the Lakers to have this many options that fit the modern NBA when pieced together.