Key Lakers Players to Miss Preseason Opener vs. Nets

There are a few key players that will be missing the Lakers preseason opener against the Brooklyn Nets. The Los Angeles Lakers season will be getting underway soon. Game one of the season is set to take place against the Golden State Warriors on October 20th. First, however, they will be going through the preseason. This is an important part for the Lakers this season as there are quite a few new pieces.

There are a few players that will be out in the first game according to head coach Frank Vogel.

When he was asked about whether or not Carmelo Anthony would be in the starting line up Vogel responded “he’s going to have a significant role with our group… He’s gonna have a big role on our team.”

Key Lakers Players to Miss Preseason Opener vs. Nets

The Lakers picked up Carmelo Anthony and Russell Westbrook ahead of the season. It will be interesting to see how Westbrook, an LA native, fits in with the team that is already in place.

“Being from LA, you always wish that you could play for your home team,” Westbrook said. “That’s definitely something that always circled around in my mind. Maybe one day? But I always would come back and be like, ‘Ah, that probably won’t happen.’ I just had to wait and see. But now that we’re here, I’m going to take full advantage of it.”

“LeBron is one of the best players to play this game, and his ability to do everything on the floor allows me to just figure it out,” Westbrook said. “I’m coming to a championship-caliber team, and my job is to make his game easy for him, and I’ll find ways to do that. As it pertains to ball-handling, it really doesn’t matter. There’s many different ways you can impact the game without having the ball in your hands. I’ve been able to do that for a number of years, and we’ll figure it out.”

It will be very interesting to see how they are able to fit in with the rest of the team. Westbrook has been known as a stat padder, will this continue?