Lakers News: Starting Lineups Revealed For Saturday's Pelicans Battle
Today against the New Orleans Pelicans, your Los Angeles Lakers have announced their first five. It will be unchanged from Thursday night's narrow 112-111 victory over the Indiana Pacers: Dennis Schröder and Patrick Beverley will start in the backcourt, while Rui Hachimura, LeBron James and Anthony Davis will lead LA up front.
For the Pelicans, CJ McCollum will run point, surrounded by jumbo-sized comrades elsewhere. 6'8" Herb Jones will play shooting guard, 6'9" Trey Murphy III will be the team's starting small forward, 6'8" ex-Laker Brandon Ingram will play at power forward, and 6'11", 265-pound big man Jonas Valanciunas will serve as NOLA's starting center.
Tonight represents a golden opportunity for the Lakers to end their road trip on a high. The Pelicans have lost 10 straight games (and 13 of their past 16) without the services of wounded All-Star forward Zion Williamson, who has been unavailable since January 2nd due to a right hamstring strain. New Orleans, once a top-four seed in the Western Conference, has fallen to a 26-27 record, and now finds itself just one game above Los Angeles (currently 25-28) in the standings. Both clubs are on the outside of their conference's play-in tournament bracket looking in.
