In most years, the Los Angeles Lakers’ preseason schedule is usually confined to a couple of areas as is the case for most teams aside from a couple of international exceptions. Ideally, travel through the preseason is minimized, but oddly this year the Lakers have a lone preseason game in Milwaukee against the Bucks and neither LeBron James nor head coach JJ Redick are thrilled about it.
Usually, the Lakers preseason consists of games throughout Southern California as well as other Western areas such as Phoenix, Las Vegas or the Bay Area. Even during the regular season, road trips incorporate multiple games within the same region such as playing all three Texas teams or in the Northeast with New York, Philadelphia and Boston.
With the weird scheduling this preseason, LeBron took to social media to display his unhappiness with the situation wondering why the Lakers are traveling that far for just one game:
Can someone please explain to me why we’re getting on a ✈️ and heading to Milwaukee for 1 pre-season game!?!?
— LeBron James (@KingJames) October 9, 2024
Likewise, Redick spoke after a recent Lakers practice, noting that the whole preseason schedule is not ideal:
JJ Redick didn’t sound too happy about this yesterday either. https://t.co/OhvH51xtu7 pic.twitter.com/ROuDdnsIFL
— Daniel Starkand (@DStarkand) October 9, 2024
It may not seem like such a big deal, especially considering the travel arrangements these players have to and from these cities, but one thing this very much affects is practice time. These unnecessary travel days take away from very much needed time for LeBron and the rest of the Lakers to continue to implement and become comfortable with Redick’s system.
It is a very unusual preseason scheduling quirk for the Lakers to travel to the midwest for this game against the Bucks and then head to Las Vegas, but it is something that is out of their control. Additionally, the Lakers will close out the preseason with a road back-to-back, which is also far from ideal.
Redick, LeBron and the rest of the team will simply have to make the best out of this situation.
JJ Redick clarifies how many 3-pointers he wants the Lakers taking per game
Following the Lakers’ most recent preseason game in which the Lakers took 40 3-pointers, JJ Redick suggested they could increase that number to 50, which took many by surprise. But the Lakers coach later clarified that was an exaggeration, and he is more focused on the quality of the looks.
“I was joking about 50,” Redick said after practice on Tuesday. “I think 40 is a lot, but if you’re generating good ones that’s a great number. I would like us to average five or six more threes a game, but you have to be conscientious about how we’re generating those threes.”
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