The Los Angeles Lakers begin their defense of their Emirates NBA Cup championship as they head to San Antonio to take on Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs in their first group stage game. Of course, the matchup between the Spurs phenom and Lakers superstar Anthony Davis should receive much of the attention.
Davis is looking to bounce back after his worst offensive performance of the season, while Wembanyama is coming off his first career 50-point game. The two also battled in the gold medal game this summer at the Olympics in Paris so they are pretty familiar with each other at this point. Davis tends to step his game up against those other top bigs so it will be interesting to see if he attacks Wembanyama from the get go.
All eyes are also on LeBron James as he looks for his fourth consecutive triple-double, a truly unreal feat. He has given the Lakers whatever they have needed each game this season, but as usual the team’s success depends on how the rest of the team steps up.
The Lakers have been much better when Rui Hachimura has been engaged and aggressive. Hachimura is dealing with an ankle sprain, however, and is expected to miss this game. That means that Dalton Knecht could make his second career start in his place, putting even more pressure on D’Angelo Russell to provide a scoring punch off the bench.
While Wembanyama gets all of the attention for the Spurs, there are a couple of other players the Lakers must keep an eye on and not allow to get going. Chief among them is Devin Vassell, who recently returned from injury and can absolutely score the basketball at a high rate if the Lakers aren’t careful on defense.
Veteran point guard Chris Paul remains one of the best in the league at getting his teammates open looks so it will be interesting to see if the Lakers put Cam Reddish on him to make things more difficult as he looks to distribute.
In the end, the Lakers’ ability to make life difficult on Wembanyama is key. Davis must do so without getting in foul trouble as the Lakers remain thin up front with only Christian Koloko backing him up and, as always, taking care of the ball and getting back in transition defense is crucial, even against a team that doesn’t normally run like the Spurs.
This is the Emirates NBA Cup opener for the Lakers and they were a different team last season during these games so if they can flip that switch again, they should get off to a strong start in this year’s edition.
Los Angeles Lakers (7-4) vs. San Antonio Spurs (6-6)
4:30 p.m. PT, Friday, November 15, 2024
Frost Bank Center, San Antonio, Texas
TV: ESPN, Spectrum SportsNet
Radio: 710 AM ESPN LA
Projected Lakers Starting Lineup:
PG: Austin Reaves
SG: Cam Reddish
SF: Dalton Knecht
PF: LeBron James
C: Anthony Davis
Key Reserves: D’Angelo Russell, Gabe Vincent, Max Christie, Christian Koloko
Projected Spurs Starting Lineup:
PG: Chris Paul
SG: Stephon Castle
SF: Julian Champagnie
PF: Harrison Barnes
C: Victor Wembanyama
Key Reserves: Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson, Zach Collins, Malaki Branham
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