Lakers vs. Rockets Summer League preview and Game Thread: Kicking off play in Las Vegas
After a very rocky slate of games in the California Classic, the Lakers head to Las Vegas looking to bounce back, starting against the Rockets.
It wasn’t a particularly great showing in the California Classic for the Lakers, capped off by a late-game collapse against the Heat to cap off a winless set of games. Now, the team heads to Las Vegas still looking for their first win of Summer League as they meet the Rockets on Friday.
Start time and TV schedule
Who: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Houston Rockets
When: 4:30 p.m. PT, July 12
Where: Thomas & Mack Center
Watch: ESPN
To be quite frank, the Lakers have been anything but fun to watch through Summer League so far. Dalton Knecht and Bronny James have shown flashes of potential and many more moments of struggle, as rookies would.
But there have been few others around them who have excelled. After a strong opening game, Maxwell Lewis has had some woeful struggles. He went 0-8 from the field against the Warriors, then went 0-10 in the first half against the Heat. In fact, dating back to the first Summer League game, Lewis missed 20 shots in a row across three games.
This isn’t to pick on Lewis, but rather to highlight one of the most glaring takeaways of Summer League so far. Where you would expect a second-year player to look notably better than the players around them — like Max Christie last summer — Lewis has not made that jump, at least not yet.
The Lakers have five games in Las Vegas at a minimum and Lewis, and the Lakers, can still turn things around. And Lewis isn’t alone in underperforming. Blake Hinson, one of the team’s two-way signings, is 3-18 from the 3-point line in the last two games. Tommy Kuhse, while being a fun story and a doppelganger for a previous site manager, has 12 turnovers to 15 assists with eight of those coming in game one.
Overall, the team has struggled across the board, leading to a product that has been disappointing overall.
Perhaps aware of this, the Lakers added UCLA alum Moses Brown and guard Trent Forrest, players with five and four years of NBA experience, respectively, to the roster. We’ll see if that impacts the Lakers in a positive way and makes them a bit more watchable, let alone more likely to win a game.
Notes and Updates
- The #discourse will certainly be alive for this one as Cam Whitmore is on Houston’s roster. The Lakers passed on him last season in favor of Jalen Hood-Schifino, who is not on the roster as he’s recovering from back surgery.
- LeBron James will likely not be in attendance for this one. Despite being in Las Vegas for Team USA camp and Wednesday’s exhibition against Canada, Team USA flew out to Abu Dhabi for their next set of exhibitions on Friday.
- JJ Redick, meanwhile, likely will be in attendance. He, along with Rob Pelinka, were at Team USA’s exhibition game in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
- We’ll be live on Playback for this one, so be sure to join us to watch along!
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.