After a long offseason, the Lakers will return to the court to kick off their 2025-26 preseason on Friday. The purple and gold will host the Suns at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert in the opening game for
both teams.
Start time and TV schedule
Who: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Phoenix Suns
When: 7 p.m. PT, Oct. 3
Where: Acrisure Arena
Watch: NBA TV, Spectrum Sportsnet
While the Lakers will kick the season off on Friday, they certainly will not be at full strength. A host of injuries have already limited who they will trot out and more could be coming.
Head coach JJ Redick already revealed that LeBron James, Marcus Smart, Maxi Kleber and Adou Thiero all would not play. LeBron has a pain in his ass (literally) and Kleber suffered a quad injury that appears to be minor. Smart is expected to be back next week and it’s a big “to be determined” with Thiero right now.
Redick also noted on Thursday that more players could be added to the injury report. With the Lakers playing on Friday before traveling to San Francisco to play the Warriors on Sunday, it’s likely that a lot of players only play in one of these two games.
On the note of the schedule, the Lakers have a quirky one this preseason. After two games in three days this weekend, they’ll then be off for a week before playing against next Sunday, Oct. 12.
This game, then, will be little more than players getting some run against an opponent that isn’t themselves, which still has value. But there is still plenty of value in that, certainly. But it’s hard to predict who will be available in these games.
Some of the biggest things to watch for is just how much being in “championship shape” has helped the Lakers already this preseason. It’s not going to pay immediate dividends necessarily, but it will be interesting if it leads to them running more throughout the games.
The Lakers have some depth that will be interesting to see, too. Will the new signings of Deandre Ayton and Jake LaRavia see action? How does Bronny James look after his strong Summer League? How does the added weight impact Jaxson Hayes’ game?
For now, we’ll likely be reduced to individual storylines during the preseason until more players are available.
Notes and Updates
- Former Laker (?) Mark Williams will not be on the floor for the Suns in this one. Despite apparently not having an injury, he has not even played 5-on-5 this preseason and is weeks away from playing. Don’t worry, though, the Lakers were the ones wrong in rescinding that trade, though.
- Another new Sun in Jalen Green will also be sidelined as he suffered a hamstring strain during practice this week.
- Contrary to last season when they played all over Los Angeles, this is the only LA-based game that won’t be in Crypto.com Arena this preseason.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.
