Lakers have yet to narrow down a starting lineup for the opening game against Houston

Lakers Coach Luke Walton isn’t sharing the starting lineup for Wednesday night’s season opener against the Houston Rockets at Staples Center.

“We’ll have one,” he quipped after this morning’s shoot-around. “We’re just going to put names into a hat. Pull one out.”

Walton said the discussions have focused on three combinations. The lineup that started most often in the preseason, when they were all healthy, consisted of point guard D’Angelo Russell, shooting guard Lou Williams, center Timofey Mozgov, small forward Luol Deng and power forward Julius Randle.

Whatever Walton chooses now, the lineup could change nightly. And he won’t set a target on a sample size he’d need to see to make a decision on one particular group or another.

He’ll also keep an eye toward getting the young players on the roster enough time to grow.

“They’re the young players — the future of the team,” Walton said. “If Brandon [Ingram] plays terrible tonight, we’re not going to bench him [for our next game] because he’s a big part of us going forward. Part of our job is to get him minutes and get him experience out there.”

Of one thing we can be sure — at some point during the opening game, Ingram will play point guard. Walton noticed his acumen with the position during Summer League.

“The great thing about him is normally just the simple right play,” Walton said. “He comes off picks and he reads the defense and whether it’s a drop pass, or a swing pass or his own shot, he normally makes the right decision off of that, and that was what was most impressive about watching him do it.”