What do Rui Hachimura, Marcus Smart, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Jake LaRavia all have in common? They are all, theoretically, the players competing to secure the fifth starter position for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Smart and Hachimura are certainly the two who have gotten the most attention for that prominent positional battle. However, the Vanderbilt and LaRavia should not be discounted altogether.
If the situation were to be narrowed down to just the first two, many have taken issue with the idea of Smart getting the starting nod for a rather silly reason. They see three guards in the starting lineup with him, Luka Doncic, and Austin Reaves.