The Los Angeles Lakers have two starting jobs to fill, but the decisions belong together. The best fit beside Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and Walker Kessler will depend on what the other newcomer to the lineup can handle.
That makes training camp more than a contest between the team’s forwards. Choosing another shooter changes the defensive assignments. Choosing another defender changes where opponents can send help against Doncic.
Redick left two starting positions unsettled alongside Doncic, Reaves and Kessler. His comments during Thursday’s season-opening media rounds help explain the evaluation.
“What we’re looking for is consistency and fit around Luka, AR and Walker,” Redick said.
The following combinations are possibilities to test, not announced lineups. Each would join the same three-player core.
What the Lakers’ potential starting combinations offer
| Pairing | Reason to test it | Question to resolve |
|---|---|---|
| Quentin Grimes + Sandro Mamukelashvili | A guard and a shooting big around the core | Who handles the opposing scoring forward? |
| Grimes + Ziaire Williams | Separate perimeter assignments for a guard and a larger wing | Will opponents respect both players away from the ball? |
| Grimes + Jake LaRavia | A chance to retain some familiarity beside the new arrivals | Can the pair supply enough shooting without requiring extra touches? |
| Grimes + Matisse Thybulle | More resources for defending an opponent’s perimeter creators | Does the defensive benefit outweigh the offensive compromises? |
| Thybulle + Mamukelashvili | Test a specialist defender beside a floor-spacing big | Is that balance better than keeping Grimes with the starters? |
These are basketball tradeoffs, not a forecast that every combination will receive equal consideration.
Grimes and Mamukelashvili: Test the offensive upside
Grimes is a reasonable place to begin the exercise. Lakers Daily previously examined his fit with Redick and the Lakers, but camp still has to establish how that fit works within a five-man unit.
His shooting deserves attention. Grimes was at 33.4 percent from three last season, compared with 36.6 percent for his career.
Those figures support testing him as a floor spacer without assuming a return to his career rate. If defenders can leave him to crowd Doncic’s driving lanes, the Lakers would need him to punish that choice or quickly turn the catch into another useful action.
Mamukelashvili offers a different shooting option. He made 38.9 percent of his threes for Toronto last season.
Put him outside while Kessler screens for Doncic, and the Lakers could make the defender guarding Mamukelashvili choose between staying attached and helping toward the rim.
That is the offensive appeal of playing the two big men together: Kessler could occupy the interior without automatically bringing a second frontcourt defender into the same space.
The difficult question comes at the other end. Against a team with a dangerous scoring forward, Redick would have to decide which starter takes that assignment and how much help it requires.
If the answer repeatedly pulls Kessler away from protecting the basket, some of the offensive benefit could disappear on defense. Starting Mamukelashvili would also affect the substitutions.
Redick has discussed using him at center as well as playing Kevon Looney behind Kessler. A starting role would not prevent those backup-center minutes, but the coaching staff would need to stagger the frontcourt carefully.
Grimes and Williams: Divide the perimeter work
Williams presents a different route. The NBA lists him at 6-foot-9, giving this pairing a larger wing alongside Grimes.
Earlier this month, Williams’ interview with the Southern California News Group described a role built around defending the ball, with shooting, cutting and transition opportunities on offense.
For this combination, the appeal would be assigning Grimes to a guard and Williams to a wing rather than asking one player to solve both problems. That could help preserve more manageable assignments for Doncic and Reaves, though opponents would still try to force switches and attack them.
Height alone would not settle whether Williams can handle a particular forward. Camp and preseason would have to show whether he can stay in front, absorb contact and finish possessions with a rebound when Kessler contests the shot.
Offensively, the pair would need to make quick use of the opportunities the stars create. A missed open three is one outcome; passing up that shot until the defense resets is a different problem.
Redick needs to learn whether this group can keep an advantage alive without asking Doncic to manufacture a second one late in the possession. That collective test adds another layer to Williams’ individual case for a starting role.
LaRavia and Thybulle create different alternatives
LaRavia would give Redick a returning player to evaluate alongside Grimes. He averaged 8.2 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game last season.
His case would not require matching the stars’ scoring. It would require making their possessions easier: setting a useful screen, moving the ball before the next defender arrives and getting to the right spot when the first action breaks down.
The question for Grimes and LaRavia is whether those contributions add up to enough offense and defense together. Familiarity could help the group organize itself, but it would not compensate for opponents consistently leaving a player unguarded or finding a matchup they can exploit.
Thybulle gives the discussion a clearer defensive emphasis. His two All-Defensive selections provide a stronger record of recognition on that end than a promising camp performance could.
Pairing him with Grimes would let Redick test two perimeter defenders around the core. The cost to examine is what happens when Thybulle’s defender helps toward Kessler: Can a cut, screen or immediate shot turn that help into a mistake?
Lakers Daily’s analysis of Thybulle’s path to closing games examines that challenge in more detail. For the starting competition, the additional question is who plays beside him.
Thybulle and Mamukelashvili would be one way to test a different balance, with Grimes moving to the bench. It would exchange Grimes’ contribution for another big man’s shooting while retaining a specialist perimeter defender.
The same concerns about forward matchups and spacing would remain; this is a comparison worth making, not evidence that Grimes should lose the job.
The opening lineup has to leave a workable bench
The first five minutes cannot be the entire evaluation. Redick also needs combinations that work after Doncic or Reaves sits, and a plan for the minutes without Kessler.
Starting a wing could preserve Mamukelashvili for a different look at center. Starting Mamukelashvili could give the opening group more shooting but require earlier substitutions to make him available later.
Either approach could work if the rotation is planned around it. For camp, Grimes alongside Williams or Mamukelashvili offers a useful initial comparison: the same core and guard, with the forward choice changing the lineup’s demands.
LaRavia, Thybulle and the rest of the competing wings can challenge that starting point through their play. The decisive evidence will be how often each group produces a good shot, contains the first attack and secures the rebound.
The two players who best connect those jobs may not be the two who score the most in preseason.
