The Lakers’ regular season officially starts on October 18. Here is a breakdown of the Lakers’ training camp and preseason, which begins this week.
Training Camp
The Laker will kick off training camp on Sept. 26 with a full media day. This will be the first time since 2019 that the NBA will mark the official start of the preseason with media day. Covid-19 protocols have made player media availability very difficult in the past few years. Monday, however, will see the return of the Lakers traditional media day. The players will begin the day by taking official team photos before sitting down for press conferences with members of the media.
Sept. 27 will be the first official day of practice. This will be the first time that the entire Lakers team and coaching staff will be together on the court. The offseason saw the Lakers bring in eight new players and a new head coach in Darvin Ham.
Team leader LeBron James invited the entire team to San Diego last week for a players-only mini-camp. Hosting a mini-camp prior to preseason, has become a tradition for teams led by James. With so many new faces, this camp may be more beneficial for this team in particular than it has been in previous years. James has been known to put together this mini-camp to help his team get to know each other better, both on and off the court.
Preseason Games
Oct 3 will be the first time the Lakers suit up for a preseason game. They will take on the Sacramento Kings at home. Following the home preseason opener, the team will fly to Las Vegas for two games. In Las Vegas, they will take on the Phoenix Suns on Oct. 5 and the Minnesota Timberwolves on Oct 6.
Following the two games in Las Vegas the team will play:
Oct. 9 at Golden State Warriors
Oct. 12 vs. Minnesota Timberwolves
Oct. 14 at Sacramento Kings
Regular Season Opener
Once preseason wraps up, it will be a quick turnaround into the regular season. The NBA opening night will feature an exciting doubleheader. The Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics have the first game of the night. And the Lakers and Golden State Warriors will finish up the night in San Francisco.Â
After such an eventful offseason, the Lakers will finally get the chance to see if this team can make it work.
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