Coach Ham will give minutes to the Lakers that deserve it, The camp battles for minutes

The Los Angeles Lakers are entering the 2023-24 season in the opposite end that they did last season, as the 2022-23 campaign was in doubt after a weak offseason, and Russell Westbrook is still on the roster.

This year, there's not a similar situation to the one the purple and gold had with Russ, this time, GM Rob Pelinka has delivered a deep roster with enough cap space for a potential big signing later in the season.

But now that coach Ham has enough talented players to choose from, is now up to them who will be getting more playing time, as some interesting battles will be held at training camp to get a starting role or more playing time in the team's rotation.

Coach Ham is going give minutes and/or spots to whoever earns it, so the most interesting camp battles will be: D'Angelo Russell vs. Gabe Vincent for the starting point guard role; Rui Hachimura vs. Jarred Vanderbilt for the starting wing role; Cam Reddish vs. Max Christie on who will be the prime substitute for LeBron James, according to reports by NBA insider Jovan Buha; and finally, but no least, Christian Wood vs. Jaxson Hayes for the first substitute of Anthony Davis as center.

The three players that have locked their starting role with the team

If everything goes as planned for coach Ham and no player starts the season with an injury or other stepback, the so far "untouchable" starting players will be Austin Reaves, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis. So far, D'Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura are set to be the first options as the starting roles, but Gabe Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt will have an opportunity at training camp to change that.