Oct 27, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves (15) drives the ball under pressure from Portland Trail Blazers center Donovan Clingan (23) during the second half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: William Liang-Imagn Images William Liang-Imagn Images

Lakers, Timberwolves Announce Starting Lineups for Wednesday Game

Originally posted on Los Angeles Lakers on SI
By Nelson Espinal | Last updated Oct 29, 2025 9:03 PM ET

The Los Angeles Lakers will play the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday in a rematch from the 2025 NBA playoffs first round.

The Wolves played against the Lakers this past Friday, with Los Angeles coming out on top 128-110. The Lakers were powered by Luka Doncic, who dropped 49 points, but he will miss the second contest between these teams.

At point guard, the Lakers are expected to start Austin Reaves, with Jake LaRavia filling in at shooting guard. Rui Hachimura, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Deandre Ayton round out the rest of the lineup.

Lakers’ starters at MIN:

Austin Reaves
Jake LaRavia
Jarred Vanderbilt
Rui Hachimura
Deandre Ayton
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) October 30, 2025

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Here is the Timberwolves starting five.

Lineup alert: Wolves will start Conley, DiVincenzo, McDaniels, Randle, Gobert on Wednesday.
— Underdog NBA (@UnderdogNBA) October 30, 2025

The Lakers' starting five was the same as against the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday when the Lakers lost 122-108. One injury affecting the starters is Gabe Vincent, who is dealing with a foot problem.

LeBron James has missed the start of the season with a sciatica nerve issue, and he will be out for Wednesday's game as well.

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If the Lakers pull off their second win over the Wolves, it will be thanks to Reaves' performance. He is the team's best player by far, and head coach JJ Redick has identified the former Arkansas man as the leader of the team until Doncic and/or James return.

"It's as much Austin's team as it is LeBron's team or Luka's team," Redick said.

"I told him he's out of excuses. You're no longer the undrafted guy who's a young player. You're one of the guys now. Every day, he's willing to be coached. It's been awesome."

So far this season, Reaves is averaging 35.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 8.5 assists. He already has a 51-point game, and he appears to be handling the increased usage well.

Doncic is expected to miss at least a couple more games, while James should miss a few more weeks until he properly returns to the basketball court.

Until then, there will be a short rotation of offensive creators, and Reaves will need to play 35 minutes or more as the team recovers and gets healthy again.

“Obviously, we didn’t play as good as we wanted to tonight, but like JJ said after the game, it’s tough with short rotations. We got seven guys, I think, was out. So, we played hard. We played hard enough to win. We just didn’t execute as good as we needed to," Reaves said after the Blazers' game.