Starting with Saturday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly planning to drastically change their starting lineup by sitting D’Angelo Russell and starting Jarred Vanderbilt.
With eight games played for the Lakers, Vanderbilt, who missed the first two months of the 2023–24 regular season owing to a heel injury, is averaging 0.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 0.8 assists while shooting 18.8 percent from the field.
Even though Vanderbilt’s statistics show that he has struggled to score this season, he is still one of the team’s better defenders and is still attempting to establish himself on the offensive end after missing a significant amount of time.
Russell, meanwhile, is averaging 15.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 6.3 assists per game this season while shooting 46.2 percent from the field, 38.0 percent from behind the 3-point arc, and 77.2 percent from beyond the arc. Russell will reportedly be replaced by Vanderbilt in the starting lineup.
But lately, the floor general hasn’t performed at the peak of his abilities. In two of his last three games, he has not scored more than ten goals. Russell had just two points on December 20 against the Chicago Bulls and nine points on December 18 against the New York Knicks.
The Lakers have had difficulty winning games ever since defeating the Indiana Pacers in the In-Season Tournament final. At 15-14, the team has the ninth-best record in the Western Conference and is currently on a four-game losing streak.
