The Los Angeles Lakers are set to take the court for the first time on Friday when they take on the Phoenix Suns in their preseason opener. With it being the first preseason game and the team only having a couple of practices under their belt, it should be expected that many of the team’s core players will either be sitting out or playing minimal minutes.
JJ Redick revealed on Thursday though that LeBron James (glute), Marcus Smart (Achilles tendinopathy), Maxi Kleber (quad) and Adou Thiero (knee) all will be out.
Of course, the most important thing in the preseason is for the Lakers to remain healthy and so any player dealing with any sort of minor injury issue will be likely to sit out. Head coach JJ Redick and his staff will be extremely cautious as things get underway, so there are already a handful of players who won’t be suiting up for the Lakers on Friday.
None of these should come as much of a surprise. Redick has already spoken about taking a cautious approach with LeBron in ramping him up for the regular season and has said that Smart is dealing with a minor Achilles issue and should be a full participant by next week. Additionally, Thiero revealed during Lakers Media Day that he still isn’t fully cleared due to his knee injury but is on schedule to be good by next week as well. Kleber, meanwhile, tweaked his quad in practice, although that also is not a serious injury.
It remains to be seen how many minutes others such as Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves will play in the preseason opener in Palm Springs, but it likely won’t be long considering it is just the first game.
JJ Redick believes Lakers may have pre-injury Jarred Vanderbilt back
While he is far from a rookie, one player many eyes will be on this preseason is veteran wing Jarred Vanderbilt who has struggled with injuries the last couple of seasons but was a game-changer defensively prior to that. And JJ Redick believes the Lakers may have that pre-injury version of Vanderbilt back.
“It looks like we do have the pre-injury version of Vando,” Redick said. “I’ve talked a lot with him this summer about just like that he got put into a tough spot, post-trade, because he had to play the five, there wasn’t other options. Just play small, had to be the backup five, they were our two options. So, I think getting him back on the perimeter, his body being in a good place from an athleticism and agility standpoint, will be super helpful for our team.”
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