The Lakers (0-3) take to the road for their first multi-game road trip of the season, starting with a date in Denver with the Nuggets at 7 p.m. Pacific on Spectrum SportsNet and on ESPN.
Below are three things to know ahead of the matchup:
WESTBROOK DOUBTFUL
Russell Westbrook left the final preseason game with hamstring tightness after coming off the bench for five minutes of action, but subsequently started all three regular season contests, with no additional reporting on that hamstring. However, on Tuesday afternoon, we learned that Westbrook was listed as “doubtful” on the team’s injury report, with left hamstring soreness, leaving him unlikely to play in Wednesday’s contest.
Westbrook is averaging 10.3 points on 28.9 percent shooting, and 8.3 percent from three, plus 4.3 assists and 1.7 turnovers in 28.7 minutes per game, all career lows in this his 15th season.
He has a net rating of -6.6 in the small sample size of three games, which ranks 12th on the team.
BROWN’S DEBUT
After spending the entire preseason and the first two regular season games working his way towards recovery from a back injury, Troy Brown Jr. made his debut against Portland on Sunday. Despite starting out slow from the field in his first action, the 23-year-old former lottery pick and free agent signing made two of three shots in the second half, and with his defense was a key part of a run that put the Lakers in control of the game.
He finished a +8 in the second half, before being replaced by Westbrook with L.A. leading 98-90, and 4:42 on the game clock.
Brown Jr.’s size (6-6) and length on the wing helped keep the Lakers big enough in a small lineup to bother the Blazers, and his quick decisions on offense kept the ball moving. Darvin Ham noted how pleased he was with Brown’s debut, adding that he’s showing himself to be a key part of the bench rotation thus far.
MATCHING UP WITH DENVER
In two-time defending MVP Nikola Jokic, the Nuggets possess one of the NBA’s most difficult matchups, an offensive savant who can punish opponents from all over the court.
But of course, the Lakers have perhaps the NBA’s best matchup for Jokic in Anthony Davis, not to mention LeBron James, who helped Davis slow Jokic in the 2020 Western Conference Finals that the Lakers won 4-1.
In that series, the Lakers held Jokic to 21.8 points on 53.2 percent shooting, 7.2 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.6 turnovers. Last season, the Serbian put up 27.1 points on 58.3 percent shooting with 13.8 boards, 7.9 assists and 3.8 turnovers. In four games this year, Jokic has seen a dramatic decrease in his field goal attempts, taking only 11.0 shots per game towards 20.3 points, with 10.3 boards and 9.5 assists. Perhaps he’s trying to get teammates Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. – who played a combined nine games last year [all MPJ] – going.
The Nuggets are 2-2, coming off a blowout loss to Portland on Monday night. On Tuesday, AD spoke about moving past L.A.’s own difficult start as they get set for Jokic and Denver. “Our mindset is getting our first win,” said Davis. “There’s some sense of urgency, you don’t want to dig yourself too much of a hole, but we gotta stay even keeled. We can’t get rattled or flustered … we think all this adversity is going to be good for us. We’re glad it’s happening in October, and not March and April. We’ll make shots, and we’ll continue to defend how we defended, and try to go in (Wednesday) and Friday and try to win.”