LeBron James praised Cam Reddish’s perimeter defense

Cam Reddish went from not playing to starting for the Lakers and LeBron James is loving every minute of it.

Returning from a 1-4 road trip, Lakers coach JJ Redick benched D’Angelo Russell and replaced him with Cam Reddish.

The move was a surprise but not a shock given Russell's offensive struggles and Reddish impressing Redick during his play on the road, particularly against the Pistons.

Still, eight games in, such a shake-up is a gamble, but one Redick won big. Reddish shined as a starter in the two games he’s been a starter and the Lakers extended their unbeaten home streak to five in a row.

LeBron James talked about how Reddish impacted the game after the team’s win against the Raptors.

“His energy,” James said. “He’s just very selfless and his ability to defend on the perimeter is very, very key for ball club. Like I said the other night, with Vando being out, it takes one of our primary perimeter defenders that we know we can just key in on a certain matchup.

“And now with Cam being inserting back into the the lineup and into the fray things, we know we have that one guy on the perimeter that we say, ‘Hey, that’s your match up tonight. Make it tough on them.”

Perimeter defense has been the Achilles heel of this Lakers team. If you are an elite player like Phoenix’s Kevin Durant or even just a respectable guard like Detroit’s Jaden Ivey, playing the Lakers has been a great way to get going offensively.

Since starting, Reddish has taken on the toughest defensive responsibilities and excelled. On Friday, he defended Paul George for most of the game against the Sixers and held him to nine points.

On Sunday versus the Raptors, he was a defensive irritant and added 11 points, likely securing his position as a starter for now.

“He’s more than a defender,” LeBron said postgame. “But I think he’s smart enough to know what he means to this team and how he’s going be on the floor and we respect that and we love that.”

Funnily enough, the Lakers also tried this last year under Darvin Ham after eight games.

Back then, Reddish replaced Austin Reaves, not Russell, and in the end, his defensive upside didn’t make up for what Reaves provided when he was on the floor.

We’ll see if pairing Reddish with Reaves instead of Russell is a long-term or temporary solution.

For now, the Lakers will continue to enjoy the upside of having a viable perimeter defender on the floor.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.