The Los Angeles Lakers will open their season on Thursday against the Los Angeles Clippers. Hopefully, forward Julius Randle will be able to suit up.
The 2017-18 season officially started on Tuesday night, and Los Angeles Lakers fans will be anxiously awaiting the start of the Lakers’ season on Thursday night.
Opening night for the Lakers will certainly be an exciting game, as they will be facing the Clippers. After a strong offseason, there is a lot of optimism surrounding the Lakers coming into this season.
After some tough years for Lakers fans, this team promises to at least be exciting this season, as they try to end their playoff drought. With young players like Lonzo Ball to watch, the Lakers should have some entertaining highlight plays and a quick pace in their game.
One of the other young players that fans will keep an eye on is Julius Randle. This preseason, Randle was arguably the Lakers’ best player. He was able to average 13.3 points and 7.3 rebounds in 21.4 minutes per game.
Unfortunately for Randle, he was forced to leave the Lakers’ final preseason game with a side strain. Despite being listed as inactive a few days ago, Randle is hopeful that he will be able to suit up on Thursday against the Clippers.
On Tuesday, Randle said to Serena Winters of LakersNation.com that he believes he will play in the season-opener.
Julius Randle thinks he'll play Thursday.
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) October 17, 2017
Having Randle in the lineup will certainly be important for the Lakers. In the preseason, he was extremely effective coming off the bench. Also, he is one of the best rebounders on the team, and that will be important against Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.
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With a few more days to heal before the opener, Randle might be healthy enough to suit up. Since the Lakers are already without Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, it will be important for them to have Randle in the lineup.