As inexplicably dumb as it may seem, the NBA’s schedulers decided that just over 24 hours after the Los Angeles Lakers landed back in the United States after a week in China should be the time for them to play their preseason opener against the Golden State Warriors.
Monday night will be the first of three preseason games this week between the Warriors and Lakers, with two of them coming in Los Angeles before the third coming on Friday San Francisco. The game is set to be televised locally and also nationally on NBA TV at 7:30 p.m. PDT.
Considering they just travelled across the ocean, it would be a surprise to see LeBron James or other veteran players play a lot of minutes. In addition to the travel concerns of the long trip, Anthony Davis has yet to get an MRI on his right thumb. Davis was unable to get further imaging on his thumb after he injured it in Saturday’s preseason game against the Nets in China. Both James and Davis were also limited to just 12 minutes on Saturday.
The Lakers are also expected to give status updates on forward Kyle Kuzma and rookie Talen Horton-Tucker, who have both been limited so far in training camp.
