EL SEGUNDO — Lakers star Luka Doncic and fellow guard Marcus Smart will make their preseason debuts in the team’s road matchup against the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday night, Coach JJ Redick told reporters after Monday’s practice.
Doncic and Smart sat out of the team’s first three preseason games, including Sunday’s 126-116 victory over the Golden State Warriors at Crypto.com Arena.
The 26-year-old Doncic fully participated in Saturday’s practice after being a modified participant in the team’s three practices earlier last week and being a full participant to open training camp the previous week.
Doncic said over the weekend that the change in his participation status was because he played for the Slovenian national team in EuroBasket from early August to early September.
“Obviously, it’s a long season ahead,” Doncic said, “so just because of that.”
Smart, who has been dealing with Achilles tendinopathy, was one of the Lakers’ top free agent signings from over the summer.
Redick added that Austin Reaves will also be available on Tuesday in Phoenix, which is the front end of a back-to-back with the Lakers hosting the Dallas Mavericks in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
Reaves has played in two of the Lakers’ three preseason games so far, averaging 20.5 points (61.9% shooting from the field) in 21.7 minutes per game.
The Lakers will close out their preseason slate with a matchup against the Sacramento Kings on Friday in Los Angeles.
Redick said the team was working through who would be available for their final three preseason games as of Monday afternoon.
The plan has been for Doncic and Smart to play in two preseason games.
“I would say there will most likely be a ramp-up from Game 1 to Game 2 in Luka’s minutes,” Doncic said. “What that total number looks like, we’re still talking to [physiotherapist Javier Barrio] and Luka about what kind of makes sense.”
Tuesday will be the first time Doncic has played in a game against another team since EuroBasket, where he debuted a significantly slimmer physique compared to how he ended last season.
“He looked like he was moving way better,” Jake LaRavia said of Doncic’s play in EuroBasket. “He looked slimmer, he looked quicker on the court laterally. Just the way he was moving, he looked like back when he got drafted out, how he was moving.”
And that’s carried over into the Lakers’ practices.
“He’s moving great,” forward Jarred Vanderbilt said on Monday while wearing Doncic’s No. 77 practice jersey. “Everything that I’ve seen from him, like, he’s being vocal. He’s leading the charge, he’s being everything we need him to be right now.
“We’re happy to have him out there right now during this week, him getting some good practices and running with us, and just starting to build that momentum towards the regular season.”
Tuesday could provide Redick with the first opportunity to play the starting lineup that he hopes will be the first unit when the Lakers open the regular season against the Warriors on Oct. 21 at Crypto.com Arena.
Redick acknowledged the team was trying to figure out what its starting lineup would be in light of LeBron James being sidelined to start the season because of sciatica on his right side.
“You want to put your five best players on the court as much as possible,” Redick said of the approach to the starting lineup. “You also want to have balance with every lineup. When we do our substitution metrics: who is going to guard? Who is going to create? Are we going to have enough shooting? So you’re doing that with every lineup you put out there, including the starting lineup.
“With the starting lineup, I don’t know how important it is to certain guys whether or not they start. I’m sure every guy wants to start. I played with a few players that didn’t care and they’re OK with coming off the bench, even though they were a starting-caliber player. So, you also have to factor that in. What makes the most sense for certain guys and how they would sort of respond to that. And we’re still working through that, and obviously losing LeBron for the start of the year in some ways complicates things a little bit. So, we have a week to figure that out and I think it will reveal itself to us.”
LAKERS AT SUNS
When: Tuesday, 7 p.m.
Where: Mortgage Matchup Center, Phoenix
TV/Radio: Spectrum SportsNet/710 AM
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