While Marcus Smart is set to make his preseason debut for the Lakers on Sunday, it’s unclear yet if Luka Dončić will follow suit.
After practice on Saturday, head coach JJ Redick provided an update on the status of a handful of Lakers, including Luka and Smart, as well as some insight into how many games Luka will play in the preseason.
The Lakers have brought Luka along slowly this preseason after he took part in EuroBasket with Slovenia. That has led to him not playing yet in the preseason and having a bit of a modified practice schedule as well.
With the Lakers playing four games in six days next week, Luka playing in just two of them makes sense. Similarly, with three of those games coming in a four-day span, it feels like he plays on Sunday and then in one of the other games so he can remain rested.
As for Smart, he missed the first week of practice and, subsequently, the first two exhibition games. After returning to practice this week, sans one day in which he had flu-like symptoms, he is set to return to the court. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he’s limited in the games he plays, too, both in terms of minutes played and actually suiting up for the contests next week.
Lastly, Redick confirmed that Reaves, who did not play in the last game against the Warriors, would play on Sunday, too.
The Lakers play the Warriors on Sunday, the Suns on Tuesday, the Mavs on Wednesday and the Kings on Friday.
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