Lakers newsletter: All these preseason road games seem unnecessary

Hey everyone, this is Dan Woike and welcome back to The Times Lakers Newsletter, where we check in on the state of the team as it hits the midway-ish point of the preseason.

Have we learned anything? Has there been anything noteworthy? Are we just waiting for LeBron James to throw a lob to Bronny James? It’s actually kind of all hard to say.

What the Bucks?

I was walking around an outlet mall near the Wisconsin/Illinois border Wednesday when LeBron James posted a question people around the NBA had been asking me for weeks.

“Can someone please explain to me why we’re getting on a (plane) and heading to Milwaukee for 1 pre-season game!?!?” he wrote.

I cackled.

Whether it’s been to loved ones, to scouts or to opposing coaches around the league, the Lakers’ preseason schedule has elicited some version of the same response — “Huh?”

The team played two games in Palm Desert last weekend. They’re in Milwaukee on Thursday. They play in Las Vegas next week on Tuesday. Then they wrap the preseason in Phoenix and San Francisco on Thursday and Friday.

Huh?

Everyone I’ve spoken to around the league has wondered why the Lakers, who schedule their own preseason, would end up doing this to themselves.

The Lakers preseason road show is a result of a few different things — the game in Milwaukee functionally a payback for the Lakers hosting the Bucks last year in the preseason at Crypto.Com Arena.

The team will probably continue its relationship with Acrisure Arena in the desert, playing one home game in the preseason there in the future. The same is probably true for their trip to Las Vegas, where they’ve gone for preseason games the last two seasons as well.

The general thinking in these things is that the Lakers’ market is bigger than Los Angeles, and these games give the team’s fans in nearby markets a chance to see them play.

A third factor? The Crypto.com Arena is in the third year of major renovations that have been taking part over the summer. The major change for this season? An inside/outside open area on the 300 level.

All of it amounts to six games on the “road” — even though the ones in Palm Desert and Las Vegas are technically “home.”

And it could be worse — the L.A. Kings are playing seven games on the road to open their season.

Quick thoughts

Here are some random notes/observations from the first week of the preseason:

There’s a pretty good chance that rookie Dalton Knecht will get rotation minutes when the season begins, his polished offensive play, motion and scoring all skills the Lakers would like to have off their bench. … The Lakers talking about vibes and structure right now is 100% to be expected. The real challenge comes if/when the team struggles. … Until Christian Wood and Jarred Vanderbilt get on the court, the Lakers will have real size concerns. … Max Christie’s defensive rebounding is the kind of skill that can allow the Lakers to play some smaller lineups. … Gabe Vincent looks much more comfortable with his body than he was late last season when he played only a handful of games before the postseason.

Song of the Week

“Sultans of Swing” by Dire Straits

I write a lot about travel songs in this space. I have a couple of different playlists that I like to listen to when I travel, and the most recent is inspired by my wife, who always teases my taste in late 70s and early-to-mid 80s rock music. She says it reminds her of the music they played at her dentist’s office growing up. I’d happily sign up for a root canal set to Dire Straits guitar solos.

Let’s chat

Any other questions you might have about this offseason? Players you want to have me dig in on? Let me know. Email me at daniel.woike@latimes.com with your questions and we’ll answer as many as we can next week.

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