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Los Angeles Lakers: Lonzo Ball only in shape to play 25 minutes

By Nick Ziegler

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 4: Brandon Ingram #14 and Lonzo Ball #2 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on before the game against the Denver Nuggets on October 4, 2017 at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 4: Brandon Ingram #14 and Lonzo Ball #2 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on before the game against the Denver Nuggets on October 4, 2017 at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The Los Angeles Lakers will be taking on the Los Angeles Clippers in their season opener. What can we expect from Lonzo Ball?

On Thursday night, the Los Angeles Lakers will be taking on the Los Angeles Clippers on their season opener. With a lot of new faces, fans are very excited to see what this new Lakers team will be able to accomplish this season.

One of the players that everyone around the country will be watching is Lonzo Ball. As the second overall pick in the NBA Draft, expectations are high for Ball. In the Las Vegas Summer League, Ball was able to win tournament MVP, and was part of the team that won the championship in the tournament.

While Ball had a lot of success in the Summer League, his preseason was cut short because of an ankle injury. Ball only appeared in two games for the Lakers in the preseason, as they were wisely careful to be cautious with their point guard.

With the regular season here, the sprained ankle did hurt Ball’s conditioning. In the season opener, Ball is only expected to play about 25 minutes, as he isn’t quite ready to handle more minutes than that.

It will be interesting to see how Ball does in his first game in the NBA. There will certainly be some nerves for him, and his conditioning not being at 100 percent because of the ankle could limit him.

Luke Walton wants Ball to be pushing the ball up the court when he is in there, and that will certainly make the minutes that he will be playing difficult ones. Since Ball is on a minutes limit, we will likely see more of Jordan Clarkson off the bench.

Next: Predicting the Lakers' starting lineup

Clarkson was already figured to be playing more with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope out for this game. Now, we could easily see Clarkson playing in the mid-30s on Thursday night. Clarkson might have a much heavy workload than normal on Thursday, but he should definitely be up for the challenge against the Clippers.

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