Los Angeles Lakers: Three players that need to step it up in the preseason
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Lakers have certainly had an interesting preseason thus far and could use a better showing from three players in particular.
Preseason wins and losses ultimately do not matter. What matters in the preseason is how players are performing on an individual level as well as the things that head coaches learn about the team heading into the regular season.
Strong individual play, configuring the rotation and keeping everyone healthy is the main priorities of the preseason. Of course, that has not gone exactly as planned for the Los Angeles Lakers this preseason.
Lakers’ star Anthony Davis injured his thumb in the second preseason game against the Brooklyn Nets and is set to get an MRI on Monday. The injury was enough to knock him out of the game, but it does not appear to be a big issue.
That has been just one story in what has been an interesting preseason for the Lakers. The team found itself in the middle of the China-NBA news as they were in China to take on the Nets. Both games ended up being played, but at one point, it didn’t seem like that would be the case.
That and Davis’ injury have overshadowed what we have seen out of the Lakers thus far in the preseason. There have been some great individual showings thus far and some not-so-impressive ones.
The preseason is not the end-all say-all of whether or not a player will be successful this season, but it would be nice to get everyone firing on all cylinders. Here are the three players that are yet to reach that point and need to step it up in the remaining preseason games.