Los Angeles Lakers vs Oklahoma City Thunder live stream: Watch NBA online
The Los Angeles Lakers (11-25) will host the Oklahoma City Thunder (20-17) at the Staples Center on Wednesday evening (Thursday AEDT). All eyes will be on Thunder star Paul George, who has been rumoured to potentially join the Lakers in this year's free agency period.
The Lakers are plagued with injury woes. Three of their starters, Lonzo Ball (shoulder), Kyle Kuzma (quad) and Brook Lopez (ankle), are likely to sit out of Wednesday's contest against Russell Westbrook & Co. While Ball and Lopez have already been ruled out, Kuzma was listed as questionable on Tuesday.
Luke Walton's young team has lost seven straight games and 10 of 11, most recently a 114-96 away loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night. "We continue to hold guys accountable for the way that we play, for the way that is acceptable for us to play. We trust that our players are made up of the character that they're going to keep working extremely hard, because they don't like losing and they want to get better. As long as we do that, we'll be just fine at the end of it all," Walton said after Tuesday's practice session.
Meanwhile, the Thunder have cracked a winning formula after a subpar start to the season. Their newly-assembled Big 3 of Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony and Paul George struggled to work cohesively through October and November as Thunder lost 12 of their first 20 games. The Thunder went 12-5 in December and are now viewed as a legitimate threat to the Golden State Warriors in the postseason.
"We've played 18 games in 31 days and had very little practice time. I think there's been a lot of slippage. The only way you can correct it and deal with it is you try to show it on film and point it out. We need to get back to our identity as an elite defensive team," Thunder coach Billy Donovan said on Tuesday.
Thunder will continue to be without Andre Roberson, their defensive ace. "He's as good as anybody I've ever been around and ever seen. There are a lot of great defenders in this league. I think he's certainly right up there with the best of them, if not the best."
After hosting Thunder, the Lakers will begin a five-game homestead which includes match-ups against the Charlotte Hornets (Friday), Atlanta Hawks (Sunday), Sacramento Kings (Tuesday) and San Antonio Spurs (next Thursday). Los Angeles Lakers vs Oklahoma City Thunder live streaming, Lakers vs Thunder live streaming and Lakers live streaming info follows.
Lakers vs Thunder live stream: Watch NBA online
Date: Wednesday, Jan. 3 (Thursday in Australia)
Start Time: 7:30 p.m. PT (Local Time), 1:30 p.m. AEST (Thursday)
TV Channel: ESPN (USA), ESPN 2 (Australia)
Live Stream: NBA League Pass (Global)
