EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Between a maddening lack of available bodies and a shortened preseason — and a questionable approach to it — the Los Angeles Lakers aren’t exactly entering the new year with the amount of reps and on-court chemistry most expected or wanted.
The new trio of Luka Dončić, Austin Reaves and Walker Kessler logged just one half together over the course of five unofficial games. Reaves entered training camp with a tweaked right ankle and Kessler suffered a jammed finger before games started.
The lack of real reps as a squad is less than ideal for a team looking to hit the ground running, but the Lakers’ early-season schedule may end up working in their favor.
Their first ten games consist of the Warriors, Clippers and Trail Blazers twice each and matchups against the Jazz, Raptors, Heat and Kings. Although the league is much more competitive than it was even last season, the Lakers are projected to be better than every Western Conference team on this slate.
“I believe, as we are right now, we’re good enough to win a lot of games,” Reaves said after practice on Tuesday. “But I don’t think that we’re as good as we can be. I think that with the reps and the in-game competition and going through adversity will only build us to be better in the long haul. Trying to compete and win games early, especially while we’re still building that, everybody’s going to have to have a winning mentality.”
Role players like Ziaire Williams, Adou Thiero, Collin Sexton and Cameron Carr wound up missing some, if not all, of the preseason games. Thiero (left knee effusion) and Carr (right oblique strain)are officially out for the season-opener against the Warriors, while Sexton (right soleus strain) is questionable.
Health will always be a concern over the course of an 82-game season, but with the opportunity to get out ahead in the wins column, how are the Lakers going to balance ramping up their connectivity and remaining competitive enough to win games?
“That’s what it is, it is a balance,” JJ Redick said. “Because, again, you have to keep the perspective of the whole. But these guys know, we had a conversation the other day, every time we step on the floor the expectation is [that] you’re going to compete to win and you’re going to try and win a basketball game and you’re going to do it to our standards.
“The guys understand that. So, I don’t think that’s a difficult balance to find.”
Los Angeles enters the season with the 18th-toughest schedule in the NBA, a ranking that is only going to rise as the season winds on. That generous start, then, could help the Lakers make up for what they missed in the preseason.
You can follow Connor on Twitter at @cmorenoNBA.
