Lakers News: LA's Starting Lineup Finalized Ahead Of Rivalry Game Against Celtics
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Your Los Angeles Lakers will be as healthy as they've been in a long time tonight against the loathed Boston Celtics.
LA's All-Star frontcourt of LeBron James and Anthony Davis will once again don the purple and gold tonight, though LBJ is dealing with a sore left ankle and AD continues to rehabilitate his right foot stress injury. Davis will continue to come off the bench on a minutes restriction. His nominal backup Thomas Bryant will jump at the five for the next few games before Davis takes over again.
Beyond James and Bryant, LA will continue to start Dennis Schröder at point guard, Patrick Beverley at shooting guard for some inscrutable reason, and Troy Brown Jr. at small forward.
However, they did get even more good news in the form of the return of Lonnie Walker IV. He'll be back in the lineup for the first time since December 28, after a 14-game absence. He'll come off the bench, and will likely also be eased into the lineup like Davis.
The only bad news for LA is that Austin Reaves is still set to miss at least the start of LA's road trip, and will be reevaluated later this week.
On the Celtics side of the equation, aside from two-way players Mfiondu Kabengele and JD Davison and veteran combo forward Danilo Gallinari (out for the year with an ACL tear), Boston will also be missing two of its best defenders in point guard Marcus Smart and center Robert Williams III.
Even with those two massive absences, Boston is currently a 7.5-favorite to win tonight, according to Las Vegas oddsmakers, anyway.
