Lakers News: Latest Buzz Surrounding Los Angeles for 2019 Opening Week
It's showtime for the 2019-20 Los Angeles Lakers. The Purple and Gold are back in action Tuesday night, facing the Los Angeles Clippers at 10:30 p.m. ET at the Staples Center.
The Lakers are gunning for a championship this season with their new-look roster. Anthony Davis, acquired in a trade with the New Orleans Pelicans, should form a fantastic pairing with the incomparable LeBron James, now entering his second season with the Lakers. The revamped roster also features a slew of veteran additions, including Danny Green, Jared Dudley and Dwight Howard. The season opener is the start of a new era.
“It’s like the first day of school,” James said, per the Los Angeles Times' Andrew Greif. “The first day of school, going back to school, laying your clothes out the night before. Just that excitement of getting the thing back going.”
There is plenty of buzz heading into this season for a franchise that's accustomed to winning but has struggled for years now. Here's what to know ahead of tonight's opener.
Injury Update
The Clippers are the designated home team in this matchup. They are title contenders after bringing in newly-minted NBA champion Kawhi Leonard and six-time All-Star Paul George during the offseason. George will miss this blockbuster opener as he recovers from shoulder surgery, and the Lakers may be without a couple of key players themselves.
Kyle Kuzma has been ruled out as he works his way back from a stress reaction in his foot, per ESPN's Dave McMenamin. Kuzma averaged 18.7 points and 5.5 rebounds per game last year and will be a crucial member of the team once the season goes on. Kuzma is practicing and should be back soon barring any setbacks, but for now, the Lakers will have to forge ahead without him.
Rajon Rondo and Alex Caruso are also on the injury report for the Lakers, per McMenamin:
Caruso's probable status means he is likely to get a few minutes. Rondo has been dealing with a nagging calf injury, and the Lakers might sit him out of an abundance of caution. If so, don't be surprised if James spends a substantial amount of time running the point Tuesday night.
Roster Finalized
The Lakers now have their official roster for the upcoming season after some final cuts made ahead of Tuesday's opener. The team waived guard Marcus Allen on Saturday then followed that up by cutting Devontae Cacok and Demetrius Jackson on Monday, per Lakers.com.
The Lakers roster now stands at 15 players plus a pair of two-way contract players in undrafted rookie Zach Norvell Jr. (who had an excellent preseason) and Kostas Antetokounmpo, the 21-year-old younger brother of MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.
It was truly an offseason of upheaval for the Lakers. Of those 17 players on the roster, only six were with the team last year. There's also some familiarity with Howard, who spent the 2012-13 season with Los Angeles.
Official Heights
You'll notice something different about several members of the Lakers this year. No, they won't necessarily look physically different, but perhaps the perception of them will have changed. The NBA revamped the way it does player heights this offseason in a bid to increase transparency.
The new system has come up with some rather unexpected results, at least for a couple key members of the Lakers. NBA insider Shams Charania got some very specific numbers:
McMenamin tweeted out a fuller list:
James' height is relatively unchanged (he actually went up), so few will take issue with that measurement. However, Davis is now in the 6'9" camp as is Howard.
Davis certainly moves like a smaller player, with his ability to knife his way into the lane from the perimeter. However, anyone who has watched him play knows he towers over most of the competition. Howard isn't quite as gangly as Davis, but he's been a center for much of his career and has hardly looked like a guy giving up a size advantage in the paint.
There's a history of players at or near seven-feet tall not wanting to be seen as lumbering giants and shaving a couple of inches off their height, but this new system is supposed to be more objective (and the shoes are off).
Then again, Golden State's Klay Thompson also lost some inches, so perhaps Davis and Howard's heights are accurate, and the NBA is just full of players who have been fudging the numbers upward for years. It wouldn't be at all surprising since size is so coveted in basketball. The new results are suspect, so NBA fans will have to simply trust what their eyes tell them.
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