Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers return home on Friday night looking to begin to change the momentum of the season when they host the Washington Wizards.

Being back in L. A. in a road capacity will definitely be a different feeling and both former Lakers are prepared to deal with the emotions. Caldwell-Pope spent four seasons with the Lakers, being a reliable starter and one of the team’s best 3-point shooters. This was the first time being traded for Caldwell-Pope and Kuzma and oftentimes players can harbor some resentment towards the franchise as they aren’t used to it. Both were dealt away to Washington this season along with Montrezl Harrell in exchange for Russell Westbrook, and this will be both’s first game back at the now-Crypto.com Arena against the Lakers. “It’s going to mean a lot. Me and Kuz are already trying to picture what it’s going to be like,” Caldwell-Pope told NBA.com “We know it’s going to be a lot of emotions because of the championship run we had with the team and our friends that are still there.

LeBron James recorded a triple-double in his return to the lineup and Russell Westbrook tallied 30 points, one of six Los Angeles Lakers players to score 13 ...

Houston is enduring the growing pains of having a young roster, and it has no chance of making it to the playoffs.Even the Lakers hadn't had trouble with the Rockets this season, having won the first three meetings between the two teams. Somehow, these defeats may be getting worse...and may have hit a new low on Wednesday night.Not only do the Rockets have the worst record in the Western Conference, but they had also lost 13 of 14 games heading into this matchup. Houston went on to put things away, spoiling the return of James, who missed Los Angeles' loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Monday due to left knee soreness.Here are some key takeaways from the Lakers' latest setback.Even though the Rockets scored 68 points over the first two quarters and were having a terrific shooting night, the Lakers had an opportunity to come away with a win in the fourth.Westbrook tied the game at 120 on a pull-up jumper with one minute and nine seconds to go, and Los Angeles needed its stars to come through.Instead, that was the Lakers' final basket of regulation, as they missed all three of their shot attempts in the final minute. But they're quickly running out of time to do so.This May Have Been These Lakers' Worst Loss YetConsidering the Lakers are nine games under .500 when they expected to be a championship contender, they've had their fair share of bad losses during the 2021-22 season. Their only victory over their past seven games was on Sunday, when he dropped 56 points in a win over the Golden State Warriors.On most nights, Los Angeles has been dropping close games, just like on Wednesday. Of the Lakers' past eight losses, half have been by five or fewer points. LeBron James recorded a triple-double in his return to the lineup and Russell Westbrook tallied 30 points, one of six Los Angeles Lakers players to score 13 or more on Wednesday night.

The former role players on the Lakers' 2020 title team have 'no hard feelings' about being included in last year's Russell Westbrook deal.

The Lakers had considered including Kuzma and Caldwell-Pope in trade packages to New Orleans for Davis both before the 2018 trade deadline and subsequent offseason before deciding otherwise. When Kuzma and Caldwell-Pope meet their former team for the first time, expect them to reflect with nostalgia before becoming eager to put on a strong performance. The Lakers avoided including Kuzma and Caldwell-Pope in 2017 when they dealt Larry Nance Jr. and Jordan Clarkson to Cleveland for Isaiah Thomas, Channing Frye and a first-round draft pick, while also freeing up cap space for future deals. In Kuzma’s case, he made two 3-pointers in the final 26 seconds in a win in Cleveland after enjoying what he called “a little banter” with Cavaliers fans. “I came right over and fit right in,” Caldwell-Pope said. “There is nothing that we have been through this year that they haven’t experienced at a high level,” Unseld Jr. said. “I feel like the organization made it easy for when we got traded. Yet, Unseld Jr. reported that Caldwell-Pope has played “exactly what I expected” with dependable perimeter defense and outside shooting (39.4%). No wonder Caldwell-Pope conceded Friday’s game will have “some extra juice” after the Lakers signed him as a free agent in 2017 before spending the next four years as a dependable shooter and defender. Kuzma has posted a team-leading 24 double doubles and remains on pace to set a career high in rebounds (8.7) and assists (3.4). Safe to say that both Kuzma and Caldwell-Pope have attached special significance to the Washington Wizards’ four-day trip here. “But they’re in a different role.”

LeBron James had a "simple" explanation as to why he passed up a layup to dish the rock to Carmelo Anthony in the Lakers' 139-130 loss to the Rockets in ...

But it’s the Lakers’ defense that’s largely to blame for the upset in Houston — LA’s ninth-straight road loss. Instead, Anthony got the late pass on the wing, and pump-faked to get his footing, but missed the shot at the buzzer. I could have got a decent look and I feel like Melo’s look was a lot better than mine.”

James Worthy called out the Lakers after their loss to the Rockets on Wednesday for their lack of fight, and Carmelo Anthony doesn't think he's too far off ...

Sometimes it carries over and sometimes it don’t. The best thing to do is not let it carry over to the next game and figure out a way to win close games and will ourselves to win a close game.” And with that being accepted by most of the Lakers already, the end result is efforts and losses like Wednesday, which likely will only continue for the remainder of the year. But, like I said, they get up for the good teams but for this Rockets team, and coach Vogel said it before the game, he said they might be young and they might not have a great record but they’re going to play hard and they did. The Lakers have been challenged mentally just as much as they have physically this year, a high bar given all the injuries suffered. “They’re not dead on arrival, but they just don’t have that tenacity, they don’t have that will to work their way out of this, even to get to the play-in game... This is especially true, as Worthy said, for a Lakers team that had such high expectations and have failed them so miserably. The worst team in the league (the Rockets), to be able to dominate like they did in overtime, first four quarters (were) tough enough. This brings us to Wednesday’s loss to the Rockets. The loss itself wasn’t surprising, with the Lakers long proving they are capable of these types of performances. but, to me, it looks like — and this is my take on it — at the beginning of the season there were a lot of expectations about this team to win. He’s earned the right to have an opinion. They can’t beat the Suns or the best teams. Here’s a transcript of the meat of Worthy’s comments postgame on Spectrum SportsNet (emphasis mine), and you can watch them in the video below.

Ahead of his return this week, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope recalled constantly being in trade rumors during his three years with the Lakers.

Ironically, Kuzma and Caldwell-Pope are two archetypes of players — 3-and-D wings — that the Lakers sorely need now. Fortunately for Kuzma and Caldwell-Pope, it at least worked out for one of the sides involved. The result is basically everyone not named James being included in trade rumors at some point or another. From the moment he signed with the Lakers, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was tossed into trade rumors. Unfortunately, it has not been a mutually beneficial move for both parties. Some of it wasn’t.”