Not that the Los Angeles Lakers are necessarily a championship contender or one of the best teams in the NBA, but they can still be a very good, very dangerous team. With LeBron James back and Anthony Davis in the middle, they can inflict pain. And the last time an overmatched team like the Detroit Pistons wants to face them is after the Lakers get blown out by a rival and are likely extremely angry and looking to take it out on an opponent. So perhaps it’s not in Detroit’s favor that the Lakers fell to the Boston Celtics 130-108 in LeBron’s first game back after missing time with an abdominal strain.
Game Vitals
Where: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, Michigan
When: 6 p.m. ET
Watch: Bally Sports Detroit
Odds: Pistons +7.5
Projected Lineups
Los Angeles Lakers (8-9)
Russell Westbrook, Avery Brtadley, Talon Horton-Tucker, LeBron James, Anthony Davis
Detroit Pistons (4-11)
Cory Joseph, Cade Cunningham, Saddiq Bey, Jerami Grant, Isaiah Stewart
Pregame Reading
The current state of Ben Simmons trade talks and what Sixers want if they move him — Philly Voice
Here is an interesting nugget from Kyle Neubeck with his reading on the Sixers’ thoughts on a Ben Simmons trade:
According to sources, those discussions were not just old and presently inactive, they were of little interest to the Sixers. The team’s list of players they’d be interested in acquiring for Simmons, recently referred to by Sam Amick in a report for The Athletic, does not include Grant, a source familiar with the situation tells PhillyVoice.