New Starting Lineup, Update On Wayne Ellington

To be clear, shooting guard Avery Bradley had actually started alongside LeBron James in a small-ball lineup during the Lakers' two recent victories against the Houston Rockets. Kent Bazemore went from starting at shooting guard to small forward, James moved up a position to power forward, and Anthony Davis shifted to center. DeAndre Jordan was demoted to a bench role.

So the real change is the return of Jordan to the starting lineup, and the return of Davis and Bazemore to their prior positions alongside Jordan in that lineup.

The news of wing Wayne Ellington's return is an exciting development. Earlier this evening, Ellington and Dwight Howard had been listed as probable for tonight's contest, so this is a welcome update to that status for Ellington. Ellington has missed the entire 2021-22 regular season up to this point with a Grade 1 hamstring strain.

After being a DNP-CD in recent games, Rajon Rondo returns to the rotation as one of the Lakers' few above-average ball handlers. It would still be rash to ever play Rondo alongside starting point guard Russell Westbrook, as those tandem lineups have looked absolutely awful.

James will not be available for tonight's Staples Center battle against the visiting Thunder, after discovering an abdominal strain. He is expected to miss at least a week. Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register had further details about the discovery of the injury, per Frank Vogel:

It will be intriguing to see how Frank Vogel adjusts the team's rotation without the Lakers' best player. It's nice that LA will be playing a rebuilding club in the Thunder, but then again, Oklahoma City's only win on the young season came against a LeBron-free LA club last week...