Thursday was a big news day for the Lakers, making that night’s game secondary. Lakers Coach Luke Walton’s pregame news conference was dominated by talk of the Lakers hiring Magic Johnson in a role that seems to be as an all-purpose adviser who reports to team President Jeanie Buss.
When the news conference ended, Walton lightly quizzed the assembled reporters: “Who are we playing tonight?”
It hadn’t come up.
The game that followed seemed like another rerun at first. But the Lakers showed fight in coming back from a 19-point deficit to tie the score before ultimately falling to the Washington Wizards, 116-108.