Darvin saw his mistake and corrects it at half of the first quarter vs. Houston

Lakers started the game against the Houston Rockets with the starting lineup of D'Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, LeBron James, Taurean Prince, and Anthony Davis, as coach Ham continues to be resistant to using Jarred Vanderbilt to start things up.

But after Houston is making it rain on points, the Lakers go to the AD-LeBron-Vando-AR-DLo lineup midway through the first quarter, which is the earliest they've used it this season.

The starting lineup had it close the game, cutting the distance, but coach Darvin Ham started mixing things up with the rotation, taking Austin Reaves out before D'Angelo Russell to theoretically get him back in later in the half with the Lebron-led bench unit.

The problem is, that LA ended the quarter with a lineup with D'Lo, Max Christie, Rui Hachimura, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Christian Wood that made the team trail at the end of the first quarter by eleven points, as Rockets rookie Cam Whitmore took over once he started scoring 12 points.

The Lakers failed by passing on Cam Whitmore in the 2023 NBA Draft

LA had a strong start to the quarter before rookie Cam Whitmore took over. Whitmore, who the Lakers passed on drafting at No. 17, scored the final 12 points of the quarter for Houston to propel them to a double-digit lead. Rob Pelinka went with Jalen Hood-Schifino instead in the 2023 NBA Draft who is a future project instead of a helping hand in a win-now Lakers team.