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D’Antoni wanted to get some of that offensive punch back with his second unit, but largely made the change to make it easier to always have two of his top three guards — James Harden, Russell Westbrook and Gordon — on the floor.

“It allows us to control his minutes a little bit and keep him, Russ and James, two of them, on the floor,” D’Antoni said. “Eric is just as important on the team as anybody. We have to find a spot where we maximize what he does. There is no use playing 37 minutes and there’s dead minutes out there. We have to keep him at 32. The only way to do that is if he doesn’t start.

“In my mind he’s a starter. But we need that punch coming off the bench. I’d say 90 percent of the time they’re going to finish the game, those three.”