Projected Lakers depth chart and rotation entering the regular season

The NBA season is close at hand, and though teams will inevitably make changes to their lineups throughout the upcoming 82 games, we're nearing the point where fans will find out just what their favorite team's depth chart will look like.

Thanks to their ability to attract marquee free agents, the Los Angeles Lakers are often one of the NBA's busiest offseason teams, but with LeBron James and Anthony Davis locked in as the faces of the franchise, there was relatively little for GM Rob Pelinka to do this summer when it came to remaking the roster.

The Lakers scuffled through much of last season before getting hot in March and April to close the year on an 11-3 run. This propelled them to a 47-35 record and the 7-seed in the West, and after taking care of the Pelicans in the play-in, they were eliminated in five games by the Nuggets in Round One of the playoffs.

It might seem like another mediocre finish for a franchise that is used to much bigger and better things, but in all fairness, L.A. played the defending champion Nuggets tough all series, ultimately losing twice on late Jamal Murray jumpers. This was small consolation for head coach Darvin Ham, though, who took the fall for the early exit despite reaching the Western Conference Finals one year earlier.

Following a protracted dalliance with UConn head coach Dan Hurley, the Lakers turned to JJ Redick to fill Ham's shoes. With rookies Dalton Knecht and Bronny James as the only new reinforcements and Taurean Prince as the only departed contributor, Lakers fans are hoping that Redick will be able to engineer the same kind of leap to greatness that Steve Kerr, himself a former sharpshooter-turned-media personality, was able to manage when he took the Warriors job 10 years ago.

This is like keeping the same race car but putting a new driver behind the wheel, and it will be fascinating to see what effect Redick can have as a first-time coach for one of the NBA's most legendary franchises. LeBron and Davis are still two of the top 15 players in the league, which should be enough to make the Lakers contenders. Whether Redick can get the most out of the rest of the roster will be a story worth following all season.

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Lakers projected 2024-25 depth chart and rotation

FanSided NBA contributor Jonathan Lurensky took a swing at projecting the Lakers depth chart back in August, and he seems to have hit the nail pretty squarely on the head. Not much has changed in the past two months, and the primary driver of depth chart change, at least in the early going, will be the recovery timetables of Jarred Vanderbilt and Christian Wood, both of whom are currently on the shelf after undergoing offseason surgery.

Vanderbilt should slide into the sixth man role once he's back on the court (which should be very soon, according to reports), while Wood will likely be out for two months or so. We'll project the depth chart as if both were healthy, before getting into what the rotation will actually look like at the start of the season.

Redick has said that he plans to use a nine-man rotation, which makes sense considering how top-heavy the Lakers roster is. Hood-Schifino is unproven, Bronny figures to spend most of the year in the G League, and Wood has been unreliable even when healthy. Knecht is intriguing, and he could crack the rotation at some point due to his natural scoring ability, but Koloko will play sparingly as long as Davis and Hayes are upright.

Russell, Reaves, LeBron and Davis all averaged between 32 and 36 minutes last season. This year's minutes distribution should fall much the same way, with Hachimura and Vanderbilt again combining for about 48 minutes once Vanderbilt returns.

Vincent and Christie both provide a defensive boost over Russell and Reaves, and each should average around 15 minutes apiece. Hayes will get a few looks playing next to Davis, but otherwise will spell the Brow when he sits and Redick doesn't want to play small ball.

The only real roster battle we can foresee is between Reddish and Knecht for the backup small forward spot. Lurensky penciled Knecht in as LeBron's backup, and that may very well be the case later in the season, especially if Reddick can't shoot better than he did last year when he was just 38.9% from the floor and 33.6% from 3-point range.

Darvin Ham drew criticism for never really cementing a consistent rotation. By firing him and keeping the roster largely intact, the Lakers made it clear that they believe they have the talent to win. This means the pressure will be on Redick from Opening Night to push the right buttons and deliver results. Can he follow in Kerr's footsteps from the broadcast booth to the winner's circle? Lakers fans will begin to find out soon.