Lakers Coach JJ Redick Considering Changes Amid Losing Skid

Second-year Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick has threatened to make some lineup tweaks as the losses have been piling up lately.

The Lakers currently find themselves on a brutal three-game losing skid. They've also dropped six of their last 10 contests overall. Thanks to a 15-4 season start, Los Angeles has had a bit of a cushion with which to withstand this stretch. The Lakers are 19-10 on the year, good for the No. 4 seed, although they're just 2.5 games clear of the No. 7-seeded Phoenix Suns (17-13) as of this writing.

Per Lakers insider Daniel Starkand, Redick has intimated that changes could be coming for LA in the coming days. Next up for the Lakers should be a bit of a reprieve, a Sunday clash against the 8-23 Sacramento Kings.

"In terms of lineups, our guys upstairs have told us 250 minutes is like the sort of target number for when lineup data starts to set and normalize," Redick said. "So you can look at a lineup (that has played) 11 minutes, 'Oh, look at this 11 minutes!' Yeah, we played small-ball for one game and they played well that game. You can't take a ton from that. But there's certainly trends that we're looking at and we've kind of made some decisions on about where we're gonna go."

What could those changes be?

Were guard Austin Reaves healthy (which he won't be for at least the next four weeks), Redick might have even been considering — gasp — moving LeBron James to a bench role as his defense has continued to crater. Now, however, it's clear Redick still needs the former four-time MVP's creation and scoring to fill the gaps created by Reaves' extended absence.

Cui Bono?

Former three-time All-Defensive Team guard Marcus Smart — LA's best perimeter defender — seems likely to be the primary beneficiary from the Reaves injury. Gabe Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt could see a bit more time, but the ultimate issue is one of roster construction.

Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka needs to add a big, defense first forward who can shoot by this year's Feb. 5 trade deadline, if he wants even an outside chance at a deep playoff run.