Lakers Summer League: Russell, Nance Jr, Brown and 2 Picks to Headline Roster

The Los Angeles Lakers’ summer league campaign will begin on July 8 at 7:30 PM against the New Orleans Pelicans in Las Vegas

Prior to this recent announcement, it was rumored that juniors Jordan Clarkson and Julius Randle might play in July’s upcoming summer league.

However, LA Daily News and Lakers’ beat writer, Mark Medina quickly shut down that rumor revealing that the “Lakers’ No. 2 & 32 picks, D’Angelo Russell, Larry Nance Jr. & Anthony Brown” are expected to headline the effort while “Randle & Clarkson [are] expected to sit.”

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This seems like a solid decision, whether coming from players individually or directly from the front office, seeing how a lineup of Russell, Clarkson, presumably Brandon Ingram, Randle and likely Tarik Black, is currently their starting lineup for the regular season.

This to say, if, God forsake, the team ended up playing that lineup and it greatly underachieved, it would kill any confidence heading into the regular season. By subtracting Clarkson and Randle from the equation, that possibility is now completely removed from the equation.

Though the official summer league roster has yet to be posted, it appears logical to assume that the aforementioned players could likely be joined by Black along with a number of undrafted players similar to last season.

The Los Angeles Lakers’ official NBA site also released the team’s summer league schedule which includes games against the New Orleans Pelicans (7/8), the Philadelphia 76ers (7/9) and the defending champion Golden State Warriors (7/11) to determine seeding in the tournament which begins on July 13.

Last year’s squad featured fan favorite Robert Upshaw, a player who was at one point pegged to be a lottery pick, so it will be interesting to see which players the Purple and Gold fill up the rest of their roster with.

Fresh off reports that the Sixers have officially informed Ben Simmons that he will be the first overall pick come Thursday night, and barring the fact that the Lakers don’t make a huge mistake, it’ll be interesting to see how Ingram meshes with his new teammates.

Additionally, fans will finally learn if the Lakers’ young players’ hard work in the gym has paid off, paying specific attention to Russell’s new found strength, Brown’s shot and Nance Jr’s overall health.

Next: 5 Best Fits For the Lakers At 32nd Overall

Moreover, as Trevor Lane mentioned, the game on July 9 could feature matchups between D’Angelo Russell and Brandon Ingram versus Jahlil Okafor and Ben Simmons, and if that doesn’t get you excited for Summer League, nothing will.