Although they have lost their first two games of the preseason, the Lakers have been ridiculously fun to watch with LeBron James at the helm. Playing at an absurd pace of 112.18 possessions per 48 minutes (which is somehow only the fourth highest mark among the league as of this preview) the team has given its fans a sizzle reel’s worth of highlights thus far, culminating in James’ Staples Center debut this past Tuesday. In only 14 minutes of action in front of his new home crowd, James notched 13 points (5-6 from the field) to go along with three rebounds and three assists while also being a game-high +13 in the box score. Another Lakers’ offseason addition, JaVale McGee, also impressed with his consecutive solid outing against the Denver Nuggets in Tuesday’s loss. McGee — who has thus far shown the ability to dwarf Inspector Gadget’s catch radius — has excelled in his defined role early on with the Purple and Gold. While his two-game averages of 16 points, 7.5 rebounds, and three blocks are impressive, the most notable number in regards to his play is the amount of minutes he has played so far. Through two preseason contests, McGee has appeared in an average of nearly 19.5 minutes a game, and while the number may seem low compared to other NBA starters around the league, the mark would be his highest total since his 2011-12 campaign. Hampered by asthma-related restrictions throughout his career, Luke Walton recently shared the team currently does not have any minute limitations in place for McGee. If he proves capable of handling an extended workload this season, this will be good news considering his early strong play, and the team being without their recent first-round-pick, Moe Wagner, for at least the duration of the preseason. On the subject of injury updates, it sounds like the team won’t get last year’s number-two-overall pick — Lonzo Ball — back in time for their match-up with the Sacramento Kings. Making notable progress of late since recovering from his meniscus injury and subsequent surgery, Ball has yet to play in the team's preseason but indications are he should be ready to go sooner rather than later. Although their opponents in this contest, the Kings, will likely not prove to be among the upper echelon of the Western Conference this upcoming season, they do have a hoard of bigs that will offer another good test for the Lakers’ small-ball scheme. Out-rebounded in both of their first two games, the Lakers are still trying to find the right combinations that allow them to play small while without getting taken advantage of in the paint. Fortunately for the Lakers, the Kings, like most teams, do not possess the singular talent Denver has in Nikola Jokic that can exploit a size and girth advantage and dilute the negatives of going small. That being said, it will be interesting to see how the Lakers’ switching lineups fare against the Kings’ front court pieces, especially if they decide to roll out this marvel again: For those who missed it, last night Dave Joerger played a lineup with Willie Cauley-Stein, Harry Giles, Marvin Bagley, and Skal Labissiere all on the floor at the same time. He played Skal at the 2. — Greg (@gwiss) October 2, 2018 Time: 7:30 p.m. PT TV: Spectrum SportsNet | NBA TV Stats provided by NBA.com<doc-sep>The Los Angeles Lakers were by far the most active team in the offseason. After years of planning, their machinations have borne fruit. LeBron James is now a Laker. He has brought with him an eclectic group of veterans that will combine with the young players already in place to give the Lakers one of the most interesting rosters in all of basketball. But now, the offseason is officially over. The moves have been made. The roster is largely set. It's time for the new-look Lakers to take the floor for the first time. The question coming into the season was how exactly the Lakers would juggle all of these players. They have more guards and wings than they know what to do with, but very little in the way of size at center. They don't yet have an identity as a team, and building one begins by figuring out who deserves to actually be on the floor. The preseason will go a long way in doing just that. Here are the players that the Lakers and the Nuggets have decided to start tonight's preseason game with.<doc-sep>Here is what you need to know before the Lakers host the Sacramento Kings for a preseason exhibition. 1) LeBron has earned unparalleled respect In case there were still any doubters, the NBA’s general managers once again anointed LeBron James as the league’s alpha dog, voting him most likely to win MVP this season. The accolades didn’t stop there. The GMs also selected James first in the categories for best small forward; best basketball IQ; best leader; best passer; most versatile; biggest impact on a new team; and most coaching adjustments forced. Thus far, LeBron has played 15 minutes in the first half of the Lakers’ preseason games, before resting the second half. While he hasn’t gone full bore in these exhibitions, he has had those moments where he reminded everyone who he is. A no-look pass here, a running slam there. We’ll see what he has next. 2) JaVale has made quite the first impression Sure, it’s (very, very) early, but JaVale McGee has injected lots of energy to his new team, even leading the Lakers in scoring in both of their first two preseason games. McGee has lived at the rim — bounding in transition and springing out of screen-and-rolls — and has done so with extreme efficiency, shooting 13-of-18 from the floor. The 10-year veteran has also been the Lakers’ most important defender so far. McGee has been a deterrent at the rim, including swatting five shots in Tuesday’s game. JaVale McGee has led the team in scoring for both preseason games so far, finishing with 15 points and 8 rebounds tonight. pic.twitter.com/IRRKrVfRrB — Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) October 3, 2018 3) Hart is showing his versatility With coach Luke Walton evaluating who will start at shooting guard come opening night, Josh Hart has begun making his case in a unique way. Hart — who came off the bench in the preseason opener — got the starting nod on Tuesday. He showed some of what has come to be expected from him, shooting 4-of-5 at the rim and hitting a couple 3-pointers. But he also added some surprising moments that spoke to his ability to compete at multiple positions. There was a possession where he rolled to the rim like a big, and another where he defended Nikola Jokic in the post. Hart has spent much of the offseason declaring (and showing) that he is more than a 3 and D wing. But, even with that forewarning, those types of big-man plays were certainly unexpected. Tip-Off: 7:30 p.m. PT TV: Spectrum SportsNet in L.A. NBA TV nationally. Location: STAPLES Center — Los Angeles, California<doc-sep>The LeBron James era in Los Angeles has gotten off to a bit of a bumpy start, with two losses to the Denver Nuggets in their first two preseason games. Yes, it's just preseason, but Lakers fans will still be happier if their team can get on the winning side of things, and they'll have a chance to do so Thursday night when they take on the Sacramento Kings. This will be preseason game No. 2 for the Kings, who recently took down the Phoenix Suns in a battle between the top two picks in this year's draft, the Kings' Marvin Bagley III (No. 2 overall) and the Suns' Deandre Ayton (No. 1 overall). How to watch Kings at Lakers Date: Thursday Thursday Time: 10:30 p.m. ET 10:30 p.m. ET Location: Staples Center -- Los Angeles Staples Center -- Los Angeles TV: NBA TV NBA TV Streaming: FuboTV FuboTV Follow: GameTracker Analysis It's just preseason, so you don't really want to dive into stats and results, especially when LeBron James is only playing about 15 minutes a night, and training camp invitees are closing out games. However, the Lakers will surely want to put together a better defensive performance against the Kings than they have in the first two preseason tilts against the Nuggets, when they were torched. There's little question the Lakers are going to be able to score, but they'll need to be locked in on the defensive end if they want to cause any problems in the Western Conference, and this is the time to figure out the problems on that end. As for the Kings, this will be another chance for them to start to figure out some lineup combinations and see how their cadre of youngsters play together. Their roster is a little imbalanced, with half a dozen big men who will be eager for playing time -- and probably deserve some as well -- yet limited options on the wing. That could force coach Dave Joerger into some interesting lineup combinations this season, and what better time to experiment than during preseason.<doc-sep>
LeBron James once again sat the entire second half and analyzing that time doesn’t really make much sense, so all that really matters is that the Los Angeles Lakers made a late second quarter comeback to beat the Sacramento Kings 67-66 in the first half. The team is now 2-1 in the preseason in halves LeBron plays in. James finished with 18 points on 6-10 shooting to go with 4 assists and 3 rebounds in 20 minutes of play. He really picked things up in the second quarter, which had a lot to do with the Lakers outscoring Sacramento 35-27 in the period. For much of the first two quarters, the team looked sloppy against a young, energetic Sacramento Kings team that took advantage of mistakes on both ends of the floor. Los Angeles started the game with no point guards on the floor as both Lonzo Ball and Rajon Rondo did not play. Their lineup of Josh Hart, Brandon Ingram, LeBron, Kyle Kuzma and JaVale McGee looked like a group that hasn’t played much together but picked things up as the game went along. De’Aaron Fox played very well against lineups that didn’t have anyone quick enough to stick with him on the perimeter. The Lakers were forced to sag off and he took advantage, knocking down a few threes. Kings fans will need to see that if he’s to live up to something close to his potential. For the Lakers, Ingram’s activity off the ball on offense was most noteworthy, especially when James had the ball. Here’s an example of this in transition, but in the halfcourt, it looked as if Ingram and James are really building strong two-man game chemistry together. Great vision leading to an easy dunk for Ingram#LakersPrideNight ( : @SpectrumSN & NBA TV) pic.twitter.com/9GZn4kuEs2 — Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) October 5, 2018 Ingram also scored 31 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Lakers to their first full-game win, 128-123, with clutch plays down the stretch on offense and defense that led to some big praise from James. "This is the year for him, I believe in him... Every big shot we needed, every big play we needed he made down the stretch, and I love seeing his growth"- LeBron on Ingram (via @SpectrumSN) — Harrison Faigen (@hmfaigen) October 5, 2018 The Lakers’ next preseason game will tip off at 7 p.m. in Anaheim, where the Lakers will take on the L.A. Clippers at the Honda Center.