Lakers Lock In Absurd Starting Five for Monday Night Clash with Heat

The Los Angeles Lakers are currently operating a starting five that looks like a fantasy draft glitch where the commissioner forgot to enforce the salary cap.

Underdog NBA confirmed the Lakers are rolling out Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Matisse Thybulle, Jake LaRavia, and Walker Kessler for Monday's matchup.

"Underdog NBA tweeted: 'Lineup alert: Lakers will start Doncic, Reaves, Thybulle, LaRavia, Kessler on Monday.'"

If you are holding tickets or staring at player props for this game, this is the exact clarity you want. There is no pregame injury-report theater here, just a locked-in rotation ready to run up the score.

And running up the score is exactly what this backcourt does. Doncic is currently operating on a different planet, leading the league in scoring with 36.0 points per game and coming off a 45-point, 15-rebound masterpiece in a 131-125 win over Toronto.

Pairing him with Reaves, who is casually dropping 24.4 points a night himself, gives Los Angeles a two-headed monster that opposing defenses simply cannot solve.

The rest of the group provides the perfect balance of perimeter chaos and interior size. Thybulle exists solely to ruin passing lanes, LaRavia stretches the floor, and Kessler is currently anchoring the paint with 2.4 blocks per game.

It is the kind of roster construction that makes you wonder what the rest of the league was doing during the offseason. The Lakers are sitting at 5-2, scoring at will, and finally have the rim protection to cover up any mistakes.

The Miami Heat are up next on Monday night. If Doncic and Reaves keep shooting like this, Miami is going to need a lot more than a motivational speech to keep this game competitive.