Lakers notes: Reeves, Reddish, LeBron, Davis, Hayes, questions

this lakers They made some pretty surprising changes to their starting lineup on Friday in Phoenix, Cam Red replace Austin Reeves At shooting guard. The news was first reported by Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link).

Reeves is off to a slow start in the 2023/24 season, averaging 13.1 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 1.5 assists in 8 games while struggling with efficiency (2.6 turnovers and .416/.278/.808 shooting hit rate) (32.0 miles). But Reddish hasn’t exactly set the world on fire either, averaging 4.4 PPG, 2.5 RPG and 1.0 SPG on .306/.125/.786 shooting and 20.3 MPG.

Here’s more about the Lakers:

• LeBron James appeared to hurt his left leg in the first quarter Friday, limping out of the game after a spin move (Twitter link Khobi Price of the Southern California News Group). ESPN has video of the game (Twitter link), but it’s unclear what might have happened. Although James missed the remainder of the first quarter, he returned to the game to start the second quarter, tweets Om Yingmisuk, ESPN.
• From a brighter perspective, Anthony Davis (left adductor/hip spasm) and Jason Hayes (Left Ankle Sprain) both on sale Friday for (Twitter link
  ). Davis ended up missing one full game and another half game, while Hayes missed two games.
• Injuries have been an issue for the Lakers, who are 3-5, with multiple rotation players missing games, including Jared Vanderbilt (Heel), who has yet to make his season debut. The Lakers were thrashed 5-0 on the road Wednesday in Houston, and James said they lacked “cohesion,” according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “I mean, we can’t build cohesion if we don’t unite“James said. “It’s that simple.It’s just that we are very tired in terms of injuries.“.
• Still, as The Athletic’s Jovan Buha writes, the team’s problems go beyond injuries. Los Angeles’ first quarter performance was historically incompetent as they held a minus-74 point margin, their worst showing in eight games in league history. Buha said the Lakers struggled with basic issues like energy and effort, as well as three-point shooting, rebounding and defense.