According to Mike Bresnahan of the L.A. Times the Lakers will face their first back-to-back-to-back sequence the first three days of the regular season.
While everybody already knew that the Lakers would be taking the floor on Christmas to battle Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls, the next two days have also been revealed on the schedule.
The Lakers will travel to Sacramento to take on the Kings on Dec. 26 before heading home to host the Utah Jazz on Dec. 27. This will be the first time the team has to play on three consecutive nights since the last time the league faced a shortened season due to a lockout in 1999.
As of now the Lakers don’t have any other back-to-back-to-back sets on their schedule, but that could change between now and the official release of the schedule, which is set to take place tomorrow.
Here are a few more details of the soon-to-be-released schedule, once again courtesy of the L.A. Times:
- The Lakers travel to Boston, Miami and Orlando but don’t play the Magic at Staples Center.
- They face every West team three or four times.
- The Lakers have two exhibition games against the Clippers, Dec. 19 and Dec. 21.
- The regular season ends April 26 for most teams, but it is unclear if the Lakers finish that day as well.
- Playoffs begin April 28, about a week later than usual, and the last possible day of the NBA Finals is June 26, also about a week later than past seasons.
If this is indeed the only set of three straight games for the Lakers it doesn’t come at a very opportune time. Remember, the team will be without their center for the first five games of the season after he elbowed J.J. Barea in Game 4 of the Western Conference Semi-Finals last May. This will leave the Lakers short-handed for their first three game extravaganza. At least their legs should be well rested.