Lakers News: Sacramento Kings Demolish Shorthanded Lakers In Preseason Conclusion
Lakers #Lakers
L.A. didn’t exactly thrive with Russell Westbrook demoted to the bench.
After your Los Angeles Lakers opted to move their priciest player to the bench, they suffered the karmic consequences, falling in embarrassing fashion to the Sacramento Kings for the second time this preseason, 133-86. L.A. wrapped up its preseason with a 1-5 record.
View the original article to see embedded media.
Darvin Ham experimented with his sixth starting lineup in as many preseason games, auditioning a first five of Patrick Beverley, Austin Reaves, Max Christie, LeBron James and Damian Jones. Ham mentioned to reporters that he did not view Westbrook’s demotion to the bench as a demotion, calling it a “realignment” instead, per ESPN. Mike Trudell of Lakers.com reports Ham also noted that “the door isn’t closed” on Brodie returning to the starting lineup.
Westbrook, in his new bench role, left the game in the first quarter with a left hamstring injury, never to return.
Anthony Davis, Lonnie Walker IV, and Troy Brown Jr. were also held out for the night, as they continue to recover from various maladies and the team (sagely) opted not to play them during an exhibition contest.
18 minutes into the contest, it was already more or less a wrap, as Sacramento led 54-29.
At least James had a nice night on offense. His fadeaway jumpers were on-point:
Late in the game, Reaves forced up a crazy trick layup, with the contest already far out of hand: