Citing security concerns, the Lakers changed plans and decided not to stay at a Donald Trump-branded hotel in New York City on Tuesday and Wednesday nights for their game Wednesday against the Brooklyn Nets, a team spokesperson said. A source with knowledge of the team's decision, who spoke on...
Photos from the cities where Lakers star Kobe Bryant is playing for the final time.
The Lakers starting backcourt is back. Point guard D'Angelo Russell and shooting guard Nick Young will both play Sunday night against the New York Knicks. Russell has missed 12 games because of a left knee injury while Young has missed six because of a strained right calf muscle. The Lakers enter...
Before D’Angelo Russell could play in a game, Lakers Coach Luke Walton wanted to see him go through a drill with contact. If not in a practice, then simply a three-on-three or two-on-two drill where he’d have to fight through screens and cut. Russell did both on Saturday. He participated in all...
Statistics suggest the Lakers’ five-game losing streak has mostly offered the opposite of Luke Walton’s vision for his basketball team. From the time he was hired as head coach in June, Walton has painted a future full of stingy defense and relentless ball movement. The injury-riddled Lakers (10-15)...
Defense was a problem for the Lakers last season. Their defensive rating ranked last in the NBA. Defense is still a problem. It has been all season, but when the Lakers were shooting better that masked their problems on defense. So when Julius Randle was asked what had changed that has caused the...
From the very first day of training camp, Lakers Coach Luke Walton wanted one thing more than anything else: He wanted strong defense from a team that was one of the league’s worst defensively last season. Friday night at Staples Center, the Lakers lost to the Phoenix Suns, 119-115, in a game...
A home crowd’s excitement in a game can help boost the team on the court. But Lakers forward Thomas Robinson sees that dynamic a little bit differently. “It’s my job to get them loud,” Robinson said. “I don’t feed off the crowd. I usually try to come in and get the crowd into it.” His energy is...
While the rest of their teammates went five on five against their coaches, D’Angelo Russell and Nick Young went through shooting drills on the other end of the Lakers’ practice court. The team’s starting backcourt is getting closer to its return, but neither player has returned to contact drills...
Minutes after the Lakers lost to the Houston Rockets, Coach Luke Walton said his team wasn’t ready to fight. That is uncharacteristic for this year’s Lakers. They've been a team of fighters for most of the season, but what they've been dealing with lately on the injury front is taking its toll....
The sound was exactly what everyone envisioned on this first big night of the season, Staples Center filled with screams and shrieks and wonder. But the noise was coming from Golden State Warriors fans. The sight was exactly what everyone predicted, a desperate team making a bold statement against...
The Houston Rockets’ dazzling transition game never relented Wednesday night, even as they led by more than 30 points late in the fourth quarter. Early and late, the Rockets’ flashy game did in the injury-riddled Lakers, who were routed, 134-95, at Toyota Center. It was the Lakers’ fourth consecutive...
While Nick Young was initially going to stay home during the Lakers’ one-game jaunt to Houston, he made the trip to rehabilitate on the road. “Feeling better,” the Lakers starting shooting guard said. “A lot better. I’m able to shoot around, get some shots up a little bit. Something I haven’t done...
Before each game they worked together on the court, reaching for the same goal. A skinny 6-foot-9 forward — a teenager who was a second overall pick — and a coach tasked with his development. The player was given a schedule to create a routine so he could learn habits that would stay with him throughout...
Luke Walton’s rotation, which has grown more confusing as the Lakers’ injuries have piled up, might be easier to solve when the Lakers face the Houston Rockets on Wednesday. But not because his team is getting healthier. The Lakers will take only 11 players on the one-day trip and forward Larry...
The Lakers are rebuilding oring and the Rams are whatever choice adjectives Eric Dickerson is using to describe them. At the moment, Los Angeles is a college basketball town. Pauley Pavilion should be packed to the rafters Saturday when No. 2 UCLA takes on Michigan, a reflection of how Lonzo Ball...
First injuries made it impossible for Luke Walton to keep his second unit together, and now they are threatening to break up what has been the Lakers’ most dynamic pair. All season, the Lakers (10-13) have relied on Lou Williams and Jordan Clarkson to come off the bench and provide instant offense....
It feels repetitive to say it, but the fact that the Lakers had a chance in their game Monday against the Utah Jazz was remarkable. They were down three guards, and though forward Larry Nance Jr. would have been able to play in an emergency, Lakers Coach Luke Walton preferred not to use him. They...
Before facing an opponent that pushed the Lakers around the last time they met, and with the team now essentially down four key players, Metta World Peace addressed his teammates with a message. He told them it didn’t matter that so many Lakers were injured, that they could still win games despite...
Depleted by injuries, the Lakers called up rookie Ivica Zubac, a second-round draft pick, from his Development League assignment Monday. Zubac averaged 17.3 points and 8.5 rebounds in six games with the D-Fenders, getting playing time and experience he wouldn’t have had with the Lakers. Lakers...
An MRI exam confirmed Lakers point guard Jose Calderon’s right hamstring strain, and he will be out for two to four weeks. That’s the bad news for the Lakers. Some better news might come Tuesday. Starting point guard D’Angelo Russell will have his knee re-evaluated, almost two weeks from when he...
The Lakers will lack yet another guard on Monday against the Utah Jazz. Jose Calderon was declared out for the game after straining his right hamstring on Saturday against the Memphis Grizzlies. Calderon is the third Lakers guard to suffer an injury that will result in missed games. The Lakers...
The most important question after every game the Lakers play is this: What did they learn? This group has overachieved some to start the season, and with that comes the temptation to reset expectations. That’s not what the Lakers want. They want to keep their focus on development and on learning....
The Lakers closed out a bruising road trip with a dramatic loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, 103-100. After a Memphis turnover in the waning seconds of the game, Julius Randle was fouled shooting a three-pointer with the Lakers down by three and 5.9 seconds left. Randle missed all three free throws....
The city of Memphis played an important role in Lakers Coach Luke Walton’s path to coaching. In 2011 Walton, then a Lakers forward, served as an assistant coach with the University of Memphis while the lockout that delayed the start of the 2011-12 NBA season was in effect. It was here he realized...
If there’s a silver lining for the Lakers in their spate of injuries lately, it’s that it’s afforded rookie Brandon Ingram the opportunity for more experience. For the last two games, Ingram has started in place of shooting guard Nick Young, who is out because of a strained right calf muscle. He’s...
It took almost two minutes of playing time for the Toronto Raptors to score on Friday night, but their first bucket began an avalanche that buried the shorthanded Lakers. Toronto (13-6) won its fifth consecutive game, a 113-80 defeat of the Lakers (10-11). The Raptors made 75% of their second-quarter...
Are you kidding me that Bill Plaschke honestly thinks these aren’t the L.A. Rams? This is just a new version of the losers who left this city 22 years ago. The L.A. Rams never won anything and please don’t count that lone title in the ’50s; the NFL was a joke back then. It’s the same old, same...
During his rookie year, Lakers point guard D’Angelo Russell took note of veteran guard Lou Williams’ most infuriating and reliable skill. That ability to get to the free-throw line, that skill that amused his teammates and frustrated opponents. So Russell studied film of Williams drawing fouls,...
On Tuesday in the NBA, every game was won by the team with the poorer record. The Lakers fell victim to that trend, losing to the New Orleans Pelicans, who improved to 7-12. A day later, however, the tables turned. The Lakers beat the Bulls to win their 10th game, a milestone it took them more...
Nick Young’s thoughts were dark as he crumpled to the ground at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans on Tuesday night. “I just planted and tried to jump and I just felt like a sharp pain,” Young said. “I just panicked because I thought the worst.” He thought he tore his Achilles’ tendon, but he...
Julius Randle’s performance Wednesday night against the Chicago Bulls was no accident. The Lakers’ third-year forward wanted the matchup that eluded him last time. He wanted his team to feed off his energy on a night they were missing two starters and playing on the second night of a back-to-back. ...
The good news from the Lakers’ postgame locker room Tuesday night was that shooting guard Nick Young’s disposition appeared to be fairly sunny and he didn’t seem excessively concerned about his Achilles injury. He also was walking on his right foot with what appeared to be a normal gait. The Lakers...
Nick Young walked around the Lakers’ locker room after Tuesday night’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans, unaided, and joked with teammates as he normally would. He declined to speak with reporters until he knew more about the right Achilles’ tendon injury that he suffered within the first...
Less than two minutes into the first game of the Lakers’ latest trip, they lost energetic shooting guard Nick Young to a strained right Achilles’ tendon. On whether that explained their lackluster first half or not, there was some dissent, but it undoubtedly complicated matters. The Lakers gave...
With two hurt starters and other players with nagging injuries, Lakers Coach Luke Walton has spent the last week pouring over each and every lineup that could help his team win games. So when Walton made a joking suggestion as to how he may use Lou Williams on his team’s upcoming road trip, it...
There is no time during an NBA season to catch one’s breath, to appreciate the overachievement of one’s team, that it survived a brutal stretch of games with a difficult set of injuries, and emerged even. So the Lakers packed up after a Monday-morning practice for a trip that will include two sets...
For many reasons, last week was difficult for the Lakers. They gave themselves an emotional boost with a win just before heading on the road for a four-game trip that includes a pair of back-to-backs. Here are five takeaways from their win over the Atlanta Hawks. 1. The Lakers missed Nick Young,...
From start to finish, Dwight Howard was passionately booed by the Staples Center crowd on Sunday night. He was booed when announced as the Hawks’ starting center. He was booed when he touched the ball. He was booed when he scored. He was booed, extra loudly, when he shot free throws. He was booed...
In the locker room about 40 minutes after the Lakers beat the Atlanta Hawks, 109-94, on Sunday night to sweep their season series, Jordan Clarkson was explaining his postgame fashion choice, a mustard-colored kilt, as Larry Nance Jr. stood beside him, chuckling. Lou Williams held court across...
Nick Young returned to the Lakers’ starting lineup Sunday night against the Atlanta Hawks, but the Lakers concluded their latest homestand still down two starters. Point guard D’Angelo Russell remained sidelined by a left knee injury and power forward Julius Randle missed his third straight game...
D’Angelo Russell wore sandals as he casually shot the ball on Saturday afternoon. While the rest of his team went through practice, Russell underwent treatment for an injured left knee that is expected to keep him out for at least another week and a half. On Wednesday, Russell had a platelet-rich...
Tarik Black likens offensive rebounding to gambling, and the Lakers coaching staff is allowing him to play his hand. Black, in his third NBA season, is the anchor of a Lakers’ second unit that has been shaken by injuries the last two games. He stands 6 feet 9, which is small for a center who makes...
The bizarreness of the situation wasn’t lost on the Lakers or the Warriors. These two teams have seen each other five times in the past two months, three times in the past three weeks and twice in the past two days. Luke Walton was asked whether he’d miss the Warriors, and he quickly said no. It...
The Lakers faced the Golden State Warriors for the third time in three weeks Friday — the second time in three days — and a less dramatic affair than either of the first two occurred, with neither team especially inspired. Playing without three starters, some of the Lakers’ old demons returned...
When Draymond Green began working with Luke Walton, he knew right away Walton would be someone he could trust. “He understood what I was trying to do before I really knew what I was trying to do,” Green said. “He helped me out a lot. It was someone I could always talk to about anything. Luke would...
The Lakers could be down three starters when they host the Warriors at Staples Center on Friday night. At shootaround Friday morning, Lakers Coach Luke Walton said both Julius Randle (hip pointer) and Nick Young (sprained toe) are doubtful for the 7:30 p.m. tip off. Randle did not play in the...
Nothing was easy about Brandon Ingram’s first start. He guarded Kevin Durant. Draymond Green guarded him. The Lakers rookie found himself thrown into some of the toughest matchups in the league right away. It was a “welcome to the NBA” moment, certainly, but Ingram refused to frame it that way....