LOS ANGELES – During a preseason press conference last week, Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick acknowledged that Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and Walker Kessler would be three of the five starters on opening night when they face off against the Golden State Warriors. Redick has not decided on who his other two starters would be, but new Lakers guard Quentin Grimes would appear to be in the mix.

Quentin Grimes was part of a retool of the Lakers’ roster this offseason, signing as a free agent after spending last season with the Philadelphia 76ers. Grimes has primarily been a reserve since he’s been in the NBA, but his penchant for defense could make him an ideal fit alongside the Lakers’ other starters.

Players usually light up when being told their primary responsibility on the court is to score the ball. But if you ask Grimes, having your main objective being to play defense, that’s just as exciting.

“I think that’s a great thing to hear. I feel like that’s the responsibility that everybody wants, more responsibility in the job they have. I feel like I take a lot of pride defensively,” Grimes told reporters during Media Day. “Everybody wants to have responsibility, whatever it is, and on the court mine happens to be defensively. And I know what I’m capable of offensively and they know that as well … guarding the best player every night, take on that challenge, I want to be competitive, I want to do whatever I can to help this team win.”

Grimes has been lauded as a strong point-of-attack defender during his six-year NBA career, and that was one of the reasons why the Lakers targeted him in free agency. He’s also shown the ability to put up points, and he was teammates with Doncic briefly with the Dallas Mavericks before both were eventually traded at the 2024-25 deadline.

He’s bounced around the NBA a bit since his first two seasons in the league with the New York Knicks, having played for the Knicks, Mavericks, 76ers and Detroit Pistons since 2023. He signed a four-year contract with the Lakers in the offseason, and head coach JJ Redick is hoping that Grimes can find stability with the team.

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“It’s been a lot of different coaches, two months here, a month here, three months, he’s kind of bounced around the last few seasons,” Redick said following Lakers’ practice on Tuesday. “So I think the stability piece for him in understanding who he exactly can be and is in this league is really important.”

This past season, Grimes appeared in 75 games for the 76ers, including 19 starts, at a little over 29 minutes per game. He averaged 13.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists with splits of 45 percent shooting from the field, 33.4 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 84 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

While Grimes certainly can bring another weapon offensively to the team, he is just looking forward to getting back to that gritty defender he was during his early days in the NBA under former Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau.

“Thibs kind of gave me a lot of responsibility being a point-of-attack defender, bringing that intensity, bringing that nastiness,” Grimes said. “Seeing San Antonio, they play really hard defensively. You can get away with a lot more. So we’re really trying to set that tone. Me, Colin [Sexton], Matisse [Thybulle], Ziaire [Williams], just trying to set that tone of being one of the toughest and hardest playing teams defensively.”