The Los Angeles Lakers held their annual Media Day on Monday, marking the end of another long offseason as they failed to reach the postseason last year.
The organization is very optimistic about the upcoming season after a successful summer though, as the additions of four rookies in Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart and Thomas Bryant and three veterans in Brook Lopez, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Andrew Bogut could put the Lakers back in the playoff mix.
One important aspect of training camp and the preseason for any team is health, as while the players want to gel and create some chemistry together, ultimately that doesn’t matter if some of the team’s key players begin the season with injuries.
Luckily for the Lakers, they are heading into camp relatively healthy, as the only players that are dealing with minor injuries are Lopez and Hart, via Lakers Nation reporter Serena Winters:
Luke Walton says Brook Lopez (back) and Josh Hart (hamstring) may be a bit limited at the start of training camp. #Lakers
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) September 25, 2017
The injuries are not believed to be serious as Lopez said himself on Spectrum SportsNet that his back is fine, but it is smart to be cautious at the beginning of training camp so the injuries do not become serious.
Both Lopez and Hart are expected to be essential parts of this year’s Lakers team after Lopez was brought in via a trade with the Brooklyn Nets and Hart was drafted with the 30th overall pick out of Villanova.
Lopez will be the team’s starting center and could be their leading scorer as he has averaged 18.6 points per game in his nine-year NBA career.
Hart brings the Lakers some defensive toughness at a wing position, which is something the team greatly lacked last season, so getting both him and Lopez healthy during training camp will be one of the main goals of the organization.