The Los Angeles Lakers had a rollercoaster of a 2023-24 campaign. They won the NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament, a sign that head coach Darvin Ham and the Lakers could be a contender when the postseason came around, and played phenomenal basketball when their backs were against the wall at the end of the regular season.
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That effort was led by resurgent performances by guards D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves. But in between the two stretches, the Lakers simply couldn’t put anything together.
The Lakers went 5-12 from December 12 to January 13, including two losing streaks of four games. During that span, Ham made a number of big lineup changes, starting more lines with a lot of wings, including Taurean Prince and Cam Reddish, and benching Reaves and Russell.
The fact that Ham started Russell and Reaves again in the starting lineup in the middle of January was virtually directly linked to the Lakers’ late-season run. After Russell was added back into the starting lineup on January 13, the Lakers finished the season with a 29-14 record from January 15 until the end.
