Los Angeles Lakers: 3 takeaways from 2018-19 season opener

2. Josh Hart should be starting soon

It’s not that Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is a bad player by any means, and it’s fair to say he didn’t have his best game to start the season (five points on 1-of-3 shooting), but it may be time for him to move to the bench. Josh Hart’s emergence as a rising player for the Lakers began at the tail-end of last season and continued with an NBA Summer League MVP performance this past summer.

Hart was arguably the second-best player for the Lakers on the court, scoring 20 points (8-for-12 on field goal attempts, 3-for-5 on 3-point attempts), five rebounds, three steals and two blocks in 27 minutes off the bench. He was aggressive attacking closeouts and is probably the best shooter on the team that is garnering minutes.

KCP and Hart boast similar skill-sets with both players fitting the 3-and-D mold. I’d say they are equal in terms of defensive ability at this stage, but Hart is more dynamic and a bigger threat on the offensive end, which should bump him into the starting lineup. Hart is a one man fast break and a better passer while offering slightly better shooting than KCP, and this team needs every bit of marksmanship they can find.

It’s only game one, but the calls for Josh Hart to start over KCP have been coming since the end of last season. Don’t expect them to slow down if these numbers by each player continue to trend in this direction.