LA Lakers vs Portland Trail Blazers Predicted Starting Lineups and Depth Charts for Feb. 20 | NBA 2024-25 season

The LA Lakers will take on the Portland Trail Blazers for the third time this season on Thursday evening, with the game set to take place at the Moda Center this time.

The Lakers (32-21) are coming off a disappointing home loss against the Charlotte Hornets following the All-Star break and will look to get back to winning ways. Meanwhile, Portland (23-32) has shown some promising signs over the last month, winning 10 of their last 14 games.

Led by Luka Doncic and Lebron James, two of the league's elite scorers, the Lakers come into Thursday's clash as favorites. Portland's young core are also capable of pulling off the occasional upset and will turn to guards Anfernee Simons and Shaedon Sharpe to steer their offense.

LA Lakers vs Portland Trail Blazers predicted starting lineups and depth charts

Portland Trail Blazers guard Anfernee Simons dribbles the ball at Ball Arena. Photo Credit: Imagn

The Lakers chose to spice things up before the trade deadline by bringing in Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber and Markieff Morris. Anthony Davis was the main departure, and coach JJ Redick will need to change his lineup to address the vacuum left at center.

Before the trade, Redick had been pretty consistent with his starting group with LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves all regular starters. The young coach has been flexible with the fifth starting spot.

The Lakers will be without Kleber who remains sidelined with a right foot injury.

Expect to see a starting five that includes Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, LeBron James, Rui Hachimura and Jaxson Hayes.

LA Lakers depth chart:

G	Luka Doncic	Gabe Vincent	Shake Milton	Bronny James
G	Austin Reaves	Dalton Knecht	Jordan Goodwin	Cam Reddish
F	LeBron James	Dorian Finney-Smith
F	Rui Hachimura	Jarred Vanderbilt	Maxi Kleber (O)	Markieff Morris
C	Jaxson Hayes	Alex Len	Trey Jemison III	Christian Koloko

Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups has been loyal to his starting core. There has been some rotation, particularly at the shooting guard and small forward positions. Toumani Camara leads the lineup with 53 starts, followed by Anfernee Simons who has 51. Jerami Grant and Deandre Ayton have also been regular features in the starting five.

Ayton is sidelined, which means Donovan Clingan will likely receive his 12th start of the season. Matisse Thybulle will likely miss out due to an ankle issue. Grant, Scoot Henderson and Robert Williams III are all listed as game-time decisions

Billups will likely come out with a starting five of Simons, Camara, Deni Avdija, Grant and Clingan.

Portland Trail Blazers depth chart:

G	Anfernee Simons	Scoot Henderson	Rayan Rupert	Rayan Rupert
G	Toumani Camara	Shaedon Sharpe	Matisse Thybulle (O)	Delano Banton
F	Deni Avdija	Kris Murray
F	Jerami Grant	Jabari Walker
C	Deandre Ayton (O)	Donovan Clingan	Robert Williams III	Duop Reath

LA Lakers vs Portland Trail Blazers players to watch

LA Lakers forward LeBron James and guard Luka Doncic (77) at Crypto.com Arena. Photo Credit: Imagn

All eyes will be on Luka Doncic, who has had a lukewarm start to his LA Lakers career. Over his first three games, Doncic is averaging 14.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists. That is significantly lower than the 28.1 ppg, 8.3 rpg and 7.8 apg he was putting up with the Dallas Mavericks.

Last night against the Hornets, the Slovenian superstar recorded just 14 points and was 5-of-18 from the field.

Anfernee Simons has been a key figure for the Trail Blazers offense throughout the season. The talented point guard currently leads the roster in ppg (18.6) and ranks second in apg (5.0). Over Portland's last five games, Simons has led the team in scoring on four occasions.