Go to Phoenix on Monday, play Tuesday. Fly to San Antonio late Tuesday and play the next day. Back to Los Angeles late on Thanksgiving eve, off for the holiday and then play the Thunder on Friday. Fly to Utah the next day, play the Jazz on Sunday. Then off to Minnesota on Sunday night, land late and play the Timberwolves on Monday. Then go to Miami for a game Wednesday. Then go to Atlanta for a game Friday. Off for a day, then host Portland on Sunday.
And then, for the first time in weeks, exhale for 48 hours.
The Lakers practiced Wednesday after two full days off, a rare oasis in an early schedule that featured them playing six preseason games outside of Los Angeles only to begin the season with the second-most road games in the Western Conference through their first 24 contests.
The time off is a benefit of elimination from the NBA Cup, the Lakers idle during the knockout games this week. While the more than $500,000 in prize money eluded them, they got something that could be more valuable.
JJ Redick said the team used the time to first relax and then regroup. The Lakers coach met individually with players Tuesday as the team begins an advantageous stretch of schedule. Wednesday the Lakers tried to maximize it with the kind of practice, Redick said, they haven’t had in two months.
“We have a great opportunity the rest of the month. Today was one of six potential practice days that we have and we got a lot done today,” Redick said. “And I think the group came with a good, workmanlike approach and yeah, we’re going to try to get better. We’re going to try to get better. I thought coming off of Friday, coming off of Sunday — where we played the right way where we were competitive, we were together, connected, all of those things — we have something to build on.”
The building, though, didn’t begin with a whole team. LeBron James didn’t meet with Redick on Tuesday and didn’t practice Wednesday, an excused absence for personal reasons keeping him away from the court. Redick said he was unsure whether James would travel with the team to Minneapolis.
Austin Reaves, who has missed the Lakers’ last five games after a scary fall during the loss to Oklahoma City, returned to practice and is trending toward a return.
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“Both of them, it seems like, are sort of day to day and just kind of wait and see how it looks tomorrow and see how it looks Friday,” Redick said when asked about James and Reaves.
After games with Minnesota on Friday and Memphis at home Sunday, the Lakers again have another three-day stretch between games, giving them more chances for physical practices like Wednesday’s workout.
“It’s good, honestly, just to get to bump against each other, I think, because that’s how it is in a game, right?” guard Max Christie said. “You’re going to be bumping against guys and bruising against guys. So it’s good to kind of feel that competitive level and competitive energy — even against each other as teammates — because it makes it that much easier to compete with each other when we’re out playing in a real game. So I think it’s advantageous, for sure.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
