Position-less Basketball of Tomorrow is Lakers' Today

By Kevin Ding - Senior Writer

As the key play in the final seconds of the game begins to unfold in front of them, Isaiah Thomas and Brook Lopez are standing in front of the Lakers’ bench with their teammates behind them.

Thomas and Lopez stand there late Saturday night in Sacramento, conspicuous by their diametrically opposed sizes of 5-foot-9 and 7-foot-0, but also because their bright gold uniforms are in plain view. They aren’t wearing warmups. It’s almost as if they know that according to conventional basketball wisdom, they belong on the floor for the key of the game. Thomas is so close to the action that his right foot is actually across the sideline and on the court.

They don’t have their warmups on because they have been so recently in the game. And their talents offer plenty of value, which is why Lopez is paid what he is paid and why Thomas finished where he finished in the NBA MVP voting just last year. Yet what the Lakers have chosen to put on the court, needing a defensive stop against the Kings with 11.7 seconds left with a 111-108 lead, is a statement about teamwork–all the way down to working as a team in their common stature.

Julius Randle, Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram are all 6-foot-9. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Josh Hart are both 6-5 with their own long limbs. Whatever offensive set the Kings run, the Lakers are fully ready to switch assignments as quickly and seamlessly as possible to prevent suffering a disadvantage–particularly the three 6-9 Lakers who line up against the Kings’ three top scoring threats.

Randle raises his arm to direct traffic as the play begins. He wants to make sure that Kuzma, the power forward if you were to assign traditional positions to this group, switches with Randle, the de facto center, and stays with Sacramento’s Bogdan Bogdanovic, who is listed as a 6-6 shooting guard.

Bogdanovic tries to shake Kuzma at the three-point arc but is stifled by Kuzma’s strong closeout. Bogdanovic then tries a hesitation dribble and drive into the paint, which only results in him falling to the floor after failing to score over Kuzma’s raised arms.

The Lakers hold, and Kuzma can’t resist a celebratory fist pump. It’s yet another victory for them…and for the growth of the Lakers’ modern, position-less basketball.