JJ Redick admits he is still undecided about the Lakers' opening night starting lineup

JJ Redick admits he is still undecided about the Lakers’ opening night starting lineup originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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Ahead of the 2026-27 NBA season, the Los Angeles Lakers know the three building blocks for their team. Those are Austin Reaves, Luka Doncic, and Walker Kessler. They are assured of their spots as starters, but it seems the other two players who will be playing alongside them are not yet finalized.

Head coach JJ Redick has admitted that he will mix his starting lineups throughout the season depending on the matchups. However, he knows the three primary players he will rely on. With opening night against the Golden State Warriors just over a week away, the starting lineup is not yet done.

JJ Redick admits he has not finalized his opening night starting lineup yet

Redick knows that he has a versatile squad that will be shuffled around. However, he also knows that he has three players who will always be in the starting lineup when healthy, so he has to build around those three players when crafting the rotations.

A lot of people will say that Sandro Mamukelashvili deserves a start because of how well he fits alongside the rest of the potential starting lineup. Other people will say Quentin Grimes or Matisse Thybulle deserve to start. They will likely get their time to shine throughout the 2026-27 season, as Redick will look for ways to get the most out of his players.

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Opening night is over a week away, so the pressure is on Redick to make the decision. Of course, considering that the starting lineups are fluid based on his previous comments, it seems that Redick is not thinking too hard because he does not want to go overboard with all the potential lineups.

“We’ve certainly seen glimpses of the things we like. It’s hard because we’ve just been a little disjointed with the guys being banged up, so there’s nothing definitive yet,” Redick said about his potential starting lineup for opening night alongside his core trio.

There are plenty of factors that go into this kind of decision, and injuries will certainly be a big deciding factor. It will be interesting to see how Redick makes his adjustments, but as he has shown in his first two seasons, he can still lead a team to 50 wins despite all kinds of injuries.

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