LOS ANGELES — The first of a five-game homestand for the Los Angeles Lakers began with a significant contest on Friday night against the talented and athletic Minnesota Timberwolves, one of the three teams ahead of L.A. in the chase for a spot in the play-in tournament.
The Lakers will play this stretch without LeBron James, who will be reevaluated in three weeks after it was announced on Thursday that the forward has a right foot tendon injury. The Lakers also didn’t have starting point guard D’Angelo Russell, who missed his fourth straight game with a right ankle sprain.
But the Lakers did get back Anthony Davis after he missed Wednesday night’s game at Oklahoma City because the team was taking precautionary measures with his right foot stress injury.
