The early season is a time for teams to experiment. Whether you're a contender or a team playing for the future, this is the time for coaches to figure out which lineups work when. During the Los Angeles Lakers' nail-biter against the Portland Trail Blazers, Darvin Ham elected to bench D'Angelo Russell in favor of Austin Reaves.

This was a bit confusing, especially since Russell was excellent in distributing the ball during the game. The Lakers star ended the game with 11 points and 11 assists to just one turnover.

Still, L.A. got the result that it wanted. However, Russell's benching drew some divisive fan reactions on X (formerly Twitter).

“I'm sure Darvin Ham has noticed that when D'Angelo Russell is benched in the 4th quarter, great things happen. Keep it that way. Ejected v Miami nearly won the game, didn't play v the Suns we won, played minimally in the 4th v the Blazers & we won again. Play 1 through 3 instead.”

“- D’Angelo Russell getting exactly over 10.5 assists and then getting benched is crazy. He wanted to be Magic Johnson tonight all of a sudden. This one stings. I hope people took him off and cashed.”

With Reaves now coming off the bench in favor of Cam Reddish, the Lakers always have an option of who to finish out games for them. Why Ham benched Russell despite his skills as a floor general is a mystery, but it might have something to do with defensive versatility.

Either way, it worked out for the Lakers today. Reaves also got his share of the action with 18 points, four rebounds, and four assists.

It will be interesting to see how the Lakers sort out this situation. As of the moment, it's working, and everyone is happy. If it stops being successful, though, will players still buy into this setup?