Los Angeles Lakers: Julius Randle, Andrew Bogut listed as inactive for opener

The Los Angeles Lakers start the season on Thursday against the Los Angeles Clippers. However, they might be a bit short-handed for the game.

On Thursday, the Los Angeles Lakers will be kicking off their regular season against the Los Angeles Clippers. It will certainly be a fun night in the Staples Center as the two Los Angeles teams square off, however, the Lakers might be missing a few players.

In their final preseason game, the Lakers saw Julius Randle have to leave the game early. Randle was one of the best players for the Lakers this preseason, as he was one of their top scorers, and also one of their top rebounders.

Randle left that final preseason game against the Clippers with back spasms that was later diagnosed as a side strain.

In addition to Randle’s injury, the Lakers also have Andrew Bogut dealing with a groin strain. Due to visa issues and then the groin strain, we never got to see Bogut in the preseason for the Lakers.

According to Mike Bresnahan, the Lakers currently have both Randle and Bogut listed as inactive for the regular season opener.

With the game still a few days away, the Lakers can switch the status of both players before then.

If the Lakers were without both Bogut and Randle, they would be very short-handed in their frontcourt. Luckily, they do have some talented forwards on the roster, but they would have to play some small ball against the Clippers.

If Randle was to miss this game, it would be a bit of a blow for the Lakers. He has been extremely impressive in the preseason, as he looks like a walking double-double this season. With Kentavious Caldwell-Pope already being suspended for the first game, the Lakers will have to hope that Randle is able to play.

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Considering that the Clippers are likely going to be a good team this season even without Chris Paul, the Lakers will need to be healthy for the opener if they want to secure a win.