Getty Lakers star LeBron James
The Los Angeles Lakers will face the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 7-8 play-in game on April 11 at Crypto.com Arena. The winner will be the seventh seed in the Western Conference playoffs and take on the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the postseason.
After the Lakers beat the Utah Jazz on April 9, LeBron James talked about facing the Timberwolves.
LeBron on his thoughts of getting Minnesota next: “That we get Minnesota next. That’s all.”
The Lakers went 1-2 versus the Timberwolves during the regular season. James played in two out of the three games, averaging 23.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists while shooting 39.5% from the field, 22.2% from beyond the arc and 83.3% from the free-throw line.
If James and the Lakers lose to the Timberwolves, they will face the winner of the New Orleans Pelicans-Oklahoma City Thunder 9-10 play-in game.
The Lakers Added 2 Players
The Lakers added Tristan Thompson and Shaquille Harrison on April 9. Thompson played four years with James on the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2014-15 to 2017-18.
“Just to shore up our backcourt and to shore up our frontline,” Lakers head coach Darvin Ham said about the moves. “[Harrison] is a guy that can score and defend and playmake and guard multiple positions. To have a guy like that that’s I think just shy of 200 NBA games under his belt, so he’s played real NBA minutes, and we saw an opportunity just if anything should happen health-wise with our guys we’ll have someone that we can throw in the mix, that’s familiar, that’s been in our program, that understands how we want to play and the terminology and whatnot. So, yeah, there’s a bit of corporate knowledge there.
“What he [Thompson] brings, his spirit, his positivity as well as the way he’s played, years and years of championship-level basketball. Championship pedigree. Great guy to be around, great teammate, I’ve heard nothing but great things about him. And having coached against him for a bunch of years, he and I have always had a great rapport throughout his career. I’m a big fan of him, I watched him back when he was playing at Texas. But just another great guy to add a serviceable player if we need to go in that direction.”
Thompson has career averages of 9.0 points and 8.4 rebounds with the Cavaliers, Boston Celtics, Sacramento Kings, Indiana Pacers and Chicago Bulls. He’s appeared in 88 playoff games and averaged 7.4 points and 8.2 rebounds.
Tristan Thompson Had a Great Workout With the Lakers
Thompson told Golden State Warriors power forward Draymond Green on the “Draymond Green Show” in March that he had a great workout session with the Lakers.
“When I came to the Lakers workout, I wanted to make sure I was in better shape than I’ve ever been,” Thompson said. “And I made sure I had my shirt off on purpose. I had my shirt off the whole workout. … So when it came to that Lakers workout, I made sure I was in great shape. Dunking the ball, windmilling. I was doing stuff where Bron was telling like, ‘Man Double T, I ain’t see this since Cleveland.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah cuz I’m ready. Like f***ing ready bro. Like I’m ready. Like I’m ready to make this happen. I’m ready to help you guys make this push.’ And I feel like what I can bring to the table to help that team is an area that I think they don’t have right now.”