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Los Angeles Lakers: 3 takeaways from preseason game No. 4

By Michael Dugger

LAS VEGAS, NV - OCTOBER 08: Brandon Ingram NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - OCTOBER 08: Brandon Ingram NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images /

The Los Angeles Lakers claimed their first victory of their preseason, beating the Sacramento Kings 75-69 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In what wasn’t the most aesthetically pleasing basketball game to watch, but the Los Angeles Lakers grabbed their first win of the preseason Sunday night over the Sacramento Kings, 75-69. Each team was paced by a couple of southpaw power forwards as Zach Randolph (16 points) led the Kings and Julius Randle (17 points) topped the Lakers.

The matchup between these teams was supposed to finally showcase a budding rivalry between rookie point guards Lonzo Ball and De’Aaron Fox, but this was quickly shut down with Lonzo sitting out another game with an ankle injury. Fox came off the bench for Sacramento before taking a hard fall and exiting the game with a lower back injury after nine minutes of action.

Lonzo’s absence opened the door for Tyler Ennis to notch another start alongside Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the backcourt. Ennis doesn’t pose much of a scoring threat, but he plays up-tempo and sets teammates up in transition. His distribution will be needed on a bench unit devoid of shot creators. KCP is the lone Laker to start every game, and has yet to find an offensive rhythm this preseason.

Brook Lopez made his Laker debut, scoring an efficient 12 points in 15 minutes of court time. We will discuss his impact offensively later in this piece, but it was nice to see the big man back on the floor. Larry Nance Jr. got the start over Julius Randle in the frontcourt, finishing with four points in 18 minutes. Here are three main takeaways from the Lakers’ victory over the Kings.

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