The Lakers (2-2) host the Clippers (3-1) on Wednesday evening at Crypto.com Arena, as they look to get over .500 for the first time this season. The game tips off at 7:00 p.m. on Spectrum SportsNet, with the pregame show starting at 6:00 p.m.
Below are three things to know ahead of the matchup:
INJURY BUG, LAKERS EDITION
Injuries are mounting in what appears to already be a league-wide trend in the early season, as the Lakers will be without the services of Rui Hachimura for a second straight game. Plus, Gabe Vincent is expected to miss his first game of the season, due to left knee soreness. He’s listed as “doubtful” on the injury report, while Hachimura has already been ruled out.
Vincent did miss two preseason games due to back soreness, but has averaged 28.4 minutes per game in the team’s four regular season contests, including a closing role as the point-of-attack defender and spacer on offense. He had yet to get going from a shooting standpoint, hitting 39.3% overall and just 7.1% from three as he adapts to his new team.
In Vincent’s absence, we might expect extended minutes for both D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves, and perhaps the first rotation minutes for Max Christie this season.
INJURY BUG, AVAILABILITY CHECK, CLIPPERS EDITION
The Clippers, at least for Wednesday’s game, have even less clarity than the Lakers on who will play, and who won’t. They just made a big trade with Philly early Tuesday morning, sending five players out, with three coming in:
Clippers acquire: James Harden; P.J. Tucker; Filip Petrusev
Sixers acquire: Nicolas Batum; Marcus Morris; Robert Covington; KJ Martin; multiple draft picks
It doesn’t appear that Harden or Tucker will be cleared to play against the Lakers, but we haven’t heard officially from the Clippers just yet on that topic.
LAC started Russell Westbrook, Bones Hyland, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard and Ivica Zubac in a Tuesday evening win over Orlando, with Norman Powell, Mason Plumlee, Amir Coffee and Kobe Brown getting the bulk of the bench run. The Clippers do tend to be conservative with their players, which leaves the possibility that either Leonard or George won’t play on the second night of a back-to-back, but we’ll have to wait until coach Ty Lue’s pregame presser to find out more.
Overall, Leonard and George have played together for less than 40% of the Clippers games (118 of 308) since they were acquired.
LAL SHOOTING STRUGGLES
In the offseason, the Lakers tried to address what has been a consistent weakness in the last few seasons: shooting the ball from the perimeter.
They brought in proven shooters like Christian Wood (37.8% career from 3); Taurean Prince (37.2%); and Gabe Vincent (37.8% in run to Finals with Miami), and elevated D’Angelo Russell (41.4% with the Lakers last regular season) and Austin Reaves (39.8%).
And they did manage to get two big-time 3’s to fall in crunch time of their Tuesday win over Orlando, with LeBron and Russell converting B2B looks.
But in four games overall, the Lakers rank 28th in 3-point percentage (29.2%), 20th in attempts (32.5) and 27th in makes (9.5). Only two players are hitting above 33.3%: Anthony Davis (42.9%) and Prince (40.9%). Davis has attempted just seven triples in four games, hitting four, while Prince leads the team with nine makes in 22 attempts (second to Russell and LeBron’s 23 attempts).
There will be some natural progression to the mean for players like Reaves (starting in a shooting slump, at 25.0%) and Vincent (1 of 14 3’s), but the Lakers also need to improve their ball movement and spacing, as the team adjust to more 5-out looks relative to the 4-out, 1-in they played in 2022-23.
The Clippers, on the other hand, are leading the NBA by hitting 42.3% of their triples, and rank fifth in makes at 15.0 per game. We’ll see how significant the three-point line turns out to be on Wednesday evening.