The Los Angeles Lakers will raise the curtain on their 2024-25 NBA season with a match against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday, October 22nd.
Both teams will look to improve their playoff run from that of spring 2024, as the Lakers bowed to the Denver Nuggets in the first round, while the Timberwolves suffered a loss in the Western Conference final to the Dallas Mavericks.
Los Angeles Lakers. They concluded their preparations for the new NBA season with a 132-74 loss to the Golden State Warriors in their final preseason matchup at Chase Center on Saturday. After a thrilling 128-122 overtime win over the Phoenix Suns 24 hours earlier, JJ Redick opted to rest all five starters for his team’s final warm-up game, allowing reserves like Bronny James and Dalton Knecht, already a protagonist in Arizona, extended minutes in the following game.
After enduring both a complex search process to be named the team’s new coach despite having no experience and a topsy-turvy preseason campaign that produced four losses and two wins in six outings, Lakers coach Redick now prepares for his first taste of regular season action. He has the task of bringing the franchise back to the top of American basketball, where it has been missing since winning its 17th title in the Orlando bubble in 2020.
The opening matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves will certainly be a tough test for the Lakers, who have been defeated in four of the last five meetings between the two teams, most recently in a preseason meeting two weeks ago. In what promises to be one of LeBron James’ final years in the league, the 39-year-old will look to win his fifth title to surpass the likes of Steph Curry and Draymond Green in terms of titles won by active players.
Minnesota Timberwolves. After starting the preseason with back-to-back wins against the Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers, the Minnesota Timberwolves lost each of their next three matchups heading into Opening Night. Chris Finch’s men suffered a 132-126 loss to the Denver Nuggets at Target Center on Friday in a rematch of last season’s second-round matchup in the Western Conference playoffs that took seven games to resolve.
The Wolves then chose to rest their starting five, and Rob Dillingham got off to a good start with 15 points and 7 assists to show a glimpse of what to expect. Given their largely unexpected run to the Conference Finals, the Timberwolves have announced themselves as major contenders in the West even without Karl-Anthony Towns, who was recently traded to the New York Knicks in exchange for Donte DiVincenzo, Julius Randle, Keita Bates-Diop and a first-round pick, the Timberwolves shook things up a bit to the surprise of many.
