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Walker Kessler wasn’t focused on the stats. He wasn’t really counting the number of shots he swatted — “one or two” — or lobs he dunked — “like four probably” — in his official Lakers practice debut Tuesday.
The only thing the star center cared about was the competition on the court. He and his teammates delivered on that, Kessler said with a smile.
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The Lakers opened training camp Tuesday with a focus on competition as the new-look team takes shape. Six of the team’s top nine players from last season are gone. A month’s worth of practices and five preseason games are the stage as players audition to fill the vacant roles.
“This is a meritocracy,” coach JJ Redick said. “You got to earn your minutes, and you cheer for your teammates while you’re doing it.”
Redick can confidently lock in three starters in Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and Kessler. The other two starting positions, and even the last spots on the roster as the Lakers need to trim at least one player to reach the NBA-maximum of 15 guaranteed contracts by the Oct. 21 season opener, remain up for grabs.
That’s how players prefer things.
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Read more: Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves ready to take charge of new-look Lakers
“Everybody has something to prove,” forward Sandro Mamukelashvili said at media day Monday. “Everybody’s very excited for the season. The guys are hard workers.”
Mamukelashvili appears to be the front-runner for the starting power forward spot because of his versatility and ability to be what Redick called “a connector” on offense. The stiffest competition comes on the wing, where the Lakers lauded their depth between offseason additions Quentin Grimes, Collin Sexton, Matisse Thybulle and Ziaire Williams, plus rookie Cameron Carr and progressing second-year forward Adou Thiero.
Redick said he has tried to give players clearly defined roles for them to earn minutes, and the depth of the wing group makes for a minuscule difference between fulfilling those requirements to stay on the court and falling short and sitting on the bench. After one day, Redick proudly reported the group “understood the…
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Publish date : 2026-09-29 23:22:00
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