Los Angeles Lakers newly acquired center Brook Lopez made his preseason debut Sunday night against the Sacramento Kings after missing the first three games with a back injury.
The former All-Star only played 15 minutes in the game but was very impressive in those minutes as he scored 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting to go along with three rebounds in the Lakers 75-69 win over the Kings.
Lopez demonstrated his versatility as he knocked down both of his three-point attempts, which is something that Lakers big men did not have the ability to do last season.
After the game in an interview on Spectrum SportsNet, fellow big man Julius Randle commented on what he saw out of Lopez and he was impressed, via Lakers Nation reporter Serena Winters:
Randle on Brook’s 1st game: "Great, he’s so skilled offensively… Extremely big, extremely physical, he’s not scared of contact.” (on SPSN)
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) October 9, 2017
More importantly than his play on the court, after the game Lopez said that his back feels fine and shouldn’t cause any issues going forward, so he should continue to see his minutes grow in the final couple preseason games in preparation for the regular season.
Lopez was acquired in the trade that sent D’Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov to the Brooklyn Nets, and while he was mainly acquired because his contract is set to expire at the end of this season, he figures to be an integral part of the Lakers this season.
Randle may be starting alongside him, and if that is the case than the duo can compliment each other well with Lopez being able to stretch the floor and Randle mainly operating in the paint.