Swingman Rudy Gay came off the bench for the San Antonio Spurs' home game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night but still played 33 minutes on the night. Gay has started each of the Spurs' games prior to this one.

Head coach Gregg Popovich started forward Dante Cunningham ahead of him in an effort to match-up and slow down Lakers superstar LeBron James. Popovich also opted to have more spacing to start the game by placing stretch big man Davis Bertans ahead of Jakob Poeltl in the starting unit.

The move did not last the whole game as Popovich went with Gay to start the second half. The bump to the bench did not seem to affect Gay as he had his most productive game on the season.  The 32-year old veteran was able to churn out 16 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks on 6-15 shooting from the field. The Spurs were able to climb out of an 11-point hole late in the third period, and ultimately came up with the win, 110-106.

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Gay won't seem to make any major adjustments if he does continue to come off the bench, as he played a similar role for the team last season. The 6-foot-8 forward came off the bench for 51 of 57 games he played for the Spurs in 2017-18.

The Hall of Fame coach Gregg Popovich has shuffled and experimented on lineups early on the season depending on the night's match-up. Thus, this may not be the last time that Gay will start the game on the sidelines. Regardless if he comes off the bench or starts the game, Gay's role on the team is pretty much secure as he provides a scoring punch and does enough to be able to make plays for the short-handed Spurs.