LOS ANGELES — As expected, Rui Hachimura returned to the starting lineup for the Lakers’ home game against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night.
He replaced Dalton Knecht in the first unit, with Knecht starting the four games Hachimura missed because of a sprained left ankle.
“It’s a little stiff, but I think stiffness is still going to be there for like a while,” Hachimura said after the team’s Saturday morning shootaround. “It’s not like I’m in pain or anything, so I’ll be fine.”
The Lakers started Austin Reaves, Cam Reddish, LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Hachimura on Saturday for the first time since a Nov. 13 home win against the Memphis Grizzlies – the game in which Hachimura suffered the ankle injury.
Hachimura, a starter in the first 10 games he was available, averaged 12.7 points (50% shooting from 3-point range) and 6.1 rebounds before being sidelined with the injury.
Knecht thrived while starting in place of Hachimura, averaging 23.8 points on 60.3% shooting (57.6% from behind the arc) and 4.8 rebounds in the four games Hachimura sat out.
Coach JJ Redick made it clear Knecht’s role doesn’t change with him returning to a reserve role, saying that he and the coaches recognize they’ll need to play him more for longer stretches after stepping up his play over the last couple of weeks.
“How we can communicate a way to play that will help the team win,” Redick responded when asked about how he views roles after previously saying starting and coming off the bench aren’t roles.
Redick added: “That’s what a role is. I probably view starter versus bench player as more of a designation. We’re not going to ask a guy whether he’s coming off the bench or starting to play any different. We want him to play his role. For Dalton, what we’ve realized is we’ve got to get him extended runs in both halves and we’re going to do that [on Saturday].”
Saturday’s game was the first matchup between the Lakers and Nuggets since last spring’s first-round playoff series, which Denver won in five games.
The Nuggets also eliminated the Lakers in the 2023 Western Conference finals in a four-game sweep.
“Not leaned into it, acknowledged it,” Redick said before the game. “[Saturday] morning we had a really good meeting, film session, game plan, shootaround. The biggest thing, and it’s not only relevant to this game, the biggest thing is everything we’ve done has been purposeful and the team, i.e. the players, have bought into it and I don’t think [Saturday] is any different.
“They’re bought into what we’re trying to do and they’re a great basketball team, they have a phenomenal player in [Nikola] Jokić. And in some ways, they have some problems that are unsolvable at times. You have to have your game plan and you have to have your adjustments ready to go.”
The Lakers had only beaten the Nuggets once in the previous 13 matchups between the two teams entering Saturday, with the lone victory being Game 4 of last season’s playoff series.
“I’m acknowledging it, the past,” Redick said. “We didn’t spend too much time on it, dwell on it. I know the core group of guys has had two disappointing playoff series losses to the Nuggets. Didn’t approach it any differently in terms of preparation or the amount of time and effort or thought that we put into getting our guys ready to go and getting ready to compete.”
“In terms of last year’s playoffs,” Redick added. “I watched all the games in real time. I watched them in preparation for the interview. I watched them this summer. But different staff, different game plan, different teams, all that stuff.”
