Why the prep 'in' used in this sentence?

Question

In Golden State, Cousins will team with four fellow All-Stars in the starting lineup in Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green.

I saw the sentence from this article. The part that really confuses me is "in Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green". I would use namely to provide a list, if I wrote it.

In Golden State, Cousins will team with four fellow All-Stars in the starting lineup, namely, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green.

What's the usage of "in" here?

Answer 1

There is an extension of the preposition's physical sense of containment. The preposition in in this context refers to embodiment of a quality.

You have a friend in me.

In Golden State, Cousins will team with four fellow All-Stars in the starting lineup in Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green.

What quality is being embodied there? "All-Stars".

{friend} in {me}

{All-Stars} in {Curry, Thompson, Durant, and Green}.

Answer 2

This particular use of in is strange.

Although in can be used in other contexts, you can't have a starting lineup in somebody. (Only people in a starting lineup.)

Instead, you could have a starting lineup that consists of some people.

But a simpler way of expressing this is:

In Golden State, Cousins will team with four fellow All-Stars, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green, in the starting lineup.

Your own rephrasing works as well.