SAN FRANCISCO — You can turn the page — but if the main characters are the same, the story can only change so much.
That’s the challenge the Lakers face, a challenge beginning Saturday at Golden State, when three new players debuted, but a key plot point remained the same.
One of the team’s stars — this time LeBron James — was sidelined, an issue the Lakers have endured too much with James and Anthony Davis over the past two-plus seasons.
The Lakers survived a slow night from Davis, with Dennis Schröder leading five players in double figures in a 109-103 win over the Golden State Warriors.
Schroder had 26, Rui Hachimura scored 16, D’Angelo Russell scored 15 and Jarred Vanderbilt had 12 and eight rebounds.
And while Davis struggled offensively — shooting just 5 of 19 for 13 points — he grabbed 16 rebounds and blocked three shots, including two late, in the win.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak.
James missed his second straight game after setting the NBA’s all-time leading record, soreness in his foot and ankle too significant for him to start putting distance between himself and Kareem-Abdul Jabbar.
Both coach Darvin Ham and general manager Rob Pelinka, who addressed the media Saturday for the first time since the NBA trade deadline, said imaging on James’ foot did not show damage.
Asked whether the team would considered shutting James down in advance of the All-Star break, Ham said he didn’t think James would “allow us to do that.”
“His foot, we have to follow the lead of it, based on how it’s feeling, have him ramp up in some workouts and see how it responds,” Ham said.
Time, though, is running out on the Lakers as they try to race up the hill they created after beginning the year 2-10.
Saturday, D’Angelo Russell was the only newcomer starting, opening with Schröder, Rui Hachimura, Davis and Troy Brown Jr. Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley were both in Ham’s second unit, while Mo Bamba served the final game of his three-game suspension.
Along with Hachimura and Davon Reed, the new acquisitions represent the front office’s attempts to alter the makeup of this team (and ones potentially in the future).
“I think the trade deadline approach is really months of work by a lot of people in the front office, lots of scenario-running and deep dives and lots of studying film and cap-planning, and we had a lot of work going into this,” Pelinka said. “There were multiple paths we could take. All of this was strategically thought-out as this unfolded. But we’re really pleased with where things landed. I think going into the trade deadline, really wanted to address shooting and spacing and more wing depth and size in general.”
The Lakers also were able to maintain flexibility — Russell is a free agent, Beasley’s contract comes with a team option and Bamba’s contract next season isn’t guaranteed.
Pelinka specifically said the team doesn’t view Russell as a “rental.”
“You can almost look at it as ‘pre-agency,’ ” he said. “If you really study the contracts of these five players, we very intentionally planned these moves to provide optionality in July.
“…I think it really is an exciting time, I think, for Laker Nation. Just to think about the fact that we have these five young players, 26 and younger, that you can see how even those five guys fit really well around our captains of LeBron and Anthony Davis. So not only does it set us up for hopefully a productive run now, but… it gives us a core to look at going into next year that is very exciting.”
Pelinka said James and Davis “were both in favor of the deals that we made” and they “felt good about the moves.”
Saturday, for the first time in some time, the Lakers could all feel good about the results.
