Less than 24 hours after facing the Phoenix Suns on the road, the Lakers are off to Las Vegas where they will take on the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday. The purple and gold look to nab their second win
of the preseason.
Start time and TV schedule
Who: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Dallas Mavericks
When: 7:30 p.m. PT, Oct 15,
Where: T-Mobile Arena
Watch: ESPN, Spectrum Sportsnet
In Tuesday night’s loss against the Suns, the Lakers got a look at their trio that will lead the way to start the season with Luka Dončić finally suiting up alongside Austin Reaves and Deandre Ayton. When those three were on the court, the Lakers looked good — at least before they pulled out their key players in the third quarter.
With Rui Hachimura, Jarred Vanderbilt, Gabe Vincent and Jaxson Hayes sitting out, it seems the team continues to prioritize load management and rest over these preseason games. This will likely continue against the Mavericks on Wednesday as it’s hard to envision Dončić and Reaves playing on the second night of a back-to-back in the preseason. On top of that, the Lakers still have one more game to play after their stint in Las Vegas before their regular season finally commences.
As for Dallas, it couldn’t be more opposite for them as Wednesday will be their preseason finale. Expect them to take this one more seriously as Jason Kidd is expected to play his starting five of Dereck Lively II, Anthony Davis, PJ Washington, Cooper Flagg and Klay Thompson — the same first five the coach rolled with in their last game against the Utah Jazz, who they dominated (114-101) at home.
Kidd also mentioned that his players will see more playing time in this one, especially Davis, who is expected to be on the court for more than 25 minutes. The former Lakers assistant coach will also look to play his starting five into the fourth quarter. Suffice to say, the Mavericks are definitely going to treat this like a regular season game.
It’ll be up to the Lakers to decide how they want to approach this one in Vegas. Will they match the Mavericks’ intensity? Or will they go at their own pace? Regardless of the result, hopefully they achieve their goals for the remainder of the preseason, which is to get enough reps and be ready for when the real season finally starts. Let’s see if the Lakers can work towards that on Wednesday.
Notes and Updates
- There likely won’t be an update as to who will suit up on Wednesday given that it’s a set of back-to-back games but it’s safe to assume that LeBron James (sciatica), Chris Mañon (ankle sprain) and Adou Thiero (left knee hyperextension) will not play.
- Not that it matters much but the Lakers are now 1-3 in the preseason while the Mavericks have a 2-1 record heading into this one.
You can follow Nicole on Twitter at @nicoleganglani.
