This week in Lakers’ news:
The Lakers finished out Summer League. The purple and gold, led by promising undrafted rookies Austin Reaves and Joel Ayayi finished out their Las Vegas Summer League schedule this week, ending their five-game schedule with a 3-2 record. Reaves, in particular, impressed during the outings including hitting an off-balance game-winner against the Suns in their first game in the desert. Trevelin Queen was also a nice surprise as he closed the last three games in double figures.
An Almost Full Family Reunion! Dwight Howard, Trevor Ariza, and Kent Bazemore are on multiple tours with the Lakers. Howard nearly enticed Danny Green to also return, according to Yahoo Sports.
Summer workout season! Fans got their first glimpse of LeBron James and Russell Westbrook on the court together. LeBron posted pictures of the duo working out, presumably for the first time, with Lakers’ assistant coach Phil Handy:
Guess who's in the lab? 👑0️⃣ pic.twitter.com/3wYCIsWcWM
— Lakers Outsiders (@LakersOutsiders) August 14, 2021
Speaking of Russ, the new starting point guard had some jokes – or some threats – when asked about the Lakers’ old roster.
Filling out the roster? The Lakers still have three open roster spots and are likely to keep one unoccupied for flexibility within the season. As for the other two spots, Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes reported that the team is looking for a third point guard – and already worked out Darren Collison, Isaiah Thomas, and Mike James for that position – as well as another wing. In the report, Haynes also states that he believes it’s likely that Jared Dudley won’t return for a third season in purple and gold.
Marquee Matchups! We learned about three highly anticipated games for next season including the Lakers’ season opener and their Christmas Day showdown. The full schedule is expected to be out Friday.
What we wrote this week:
On Monday, Alex answered some fan questions including who the Lakers’ biggest competition in the Western Conference will be.
On Wednesday, Donny predicted what the LA’s top lineups in the fastbreak could look like.
On Thursday, Walt hopped into an alternate universe and answered the question, “what would the Lakers look like right now if Dennis Schroder had taken his reported $84 million extension?”
