The LeBron James era in Los Angeles has gotten off to a bit of a bumpy start, with two losses to the Denver Nuggets in their first two preseason games. Yes, it's just preseason, but Lakers fans will still be happier if their team can get on the winning side of things, and they'll have a chance to do so Thursday night when they take on the Sacramento Kings.
This will be preseason game No. 2 for the Kings, who recently took down the Phoenix Suns in a battle between the top two picks in this year's draft, the Kings' Marvin Bagley III (No. 2 overall) and the Suns' Deandre Ayton (No. 1 overall).
How to watch Kings at Lakers
- Date: Thursday
- Time: 10:30 p.m. ET
- Location: Staples Center -- Los Angeles
- TV: NBA TV
- Streaming: FuboTV
- Follow: GameTracker
Analysis
It's just preseason, so you don't really want to dive into stats and results, especially when LeBron James is only playing about 15 minutes a night, and training camp invitees are closing out games. However, the Lakers will surely want to put together a better defensive performance against the Kings than they have in the first two preseason tilts against the Nuggets, when they were torched. There's little question the Lakers are going to be able to score, but they'll need to be locked in on the defensive end if they want to cause any problems in the Western Conference, and this is the time to figure out the problems on that end.
As for the Kings, this will be another chance for them to start to figure out some lineup combinations and see how their cadre of youngsters play together. Their roster is a little imbalanced, with half a dozen big men who will be eager for playing time -- and probably deserve some as well -- yet limited options on the wing. That could force coach Dave Joerger into some interesting lineup combinations this season, and what better time to experiment than during preseason.
