The Los Angeles Lakers open their preseason Monday against the Sacramento Kings in Sacramento, and the game begins a stretch that could define how much real work they get done before the regular season pushes closer. It is the first of three preseason games in four days, with a third game coming Thursday.
That makes this opener more than a warmup. For JJ Redick, it is the first test of a schedule that does not give the Lakers much breathing room, and it comes after a long week of practice. The team will very likely not have full rosters available for any of these games, which means the night in Sacramento is less about a polished product than about sorting out who can go and how much everyone else can handle.
The setup is unusual enough that it is hard to miss the basic contradiction. The Lakers control their own scheduling, yet they have chosen to open with a back-to-back, and Redick does not seem to love it. That matters because preseason is usually where teams pick their spots, limiting heavy minutes and protecting players who do not need the work. In previous preseasons, the Lakers have used their superstars in just one of the three games, a reminder that these dates are often more about distribution than consistency.
So the immediate question is not whether the Lakers can win on Monday. It is which Lakers will actually be available and how much of the week Redick can use before Thursday arrives. If the usual preseason pattern holds, the opener in Sacramento may end up being the most revealing game of the week precisely because it will not look complete.
