The Los Angeles Lakers will be starting their preseason on Saturday night. One players that can’t wait is Lonzo Ball.
In what has been a very busy week for the Los Angeles Lakers with media day and the start of training camp, they will be already playing their first preseason game on Saturday against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Due to the regular season starting a bit early this season, training camp and the preseason have been condensed. While this will help avoid the dreaded back-to-backs in the regular season, it does make getting the most out of these games important.
For the Lakers, they have a lot of new faces on the team. Due to all of the new players, it is going to take some time to get used to playing with each other. While some Lakers have chemistry from the Las Vegas Summer League, most of the projected starters have never played together.
With the lack of chemistry being an issue, it will be important for the Lakers to start building it during the preseason. One player that can’t wait to get out there is point guard Lonzo Ball.
"“I just want to get out there and play,” Ball said after Thursday’s practice to Corey Hansford of LakersNation.com. “It’s kind of the start of everything. It’s the first time we’re all together and competing against somebody else.”"
With the Lakers being in the Western Conference, Ball is going to be seeing some elite competition at the point guard spot. Against the Timberwolves, Ball will be matched up against Jeff Teague.
While Teague isn’t considered to be an elite point guard in the NBA, he is certainly a very good one. Ball was able to shine in the Summer League, but he will quickly find out that Teague is a much better player than anyone he faced in Las Vegas. This will be a great opportunity to see what Ball can do, as Teague will certainly be looking to test the rookie.
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After seeing the buzz surrounding the Lakers in the Summer League, these preseason games will be a lot of fun as well. Hopefully, we see the team begin to build that chemistry early on.